{"id":339122,"date":"2011-03-26T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/26\/april-polls-aliyu%e2%80%99s-campaign-strategies-hurdles-in-niger\/"},"modified":"2011-03-26T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T06:00:00","slug":"april-polls-aliyus-campaign-strategies-hurdles-in-niger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/26\/april-polls-aliyus-campaign-strategies-hurdles-in-niger\/","title":{"rendered":"April polls: Aliyu\u2019s campaign strategies, hurdles in Niger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

A few days to the April 2011 general elections, the battle has become intense nationwide. MIKE ODIEGWU writes that electioneering strategies adopted by the major governorship candidates in Niger State may ultimately determine who occupies the Minna Government House in May<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Macbeth (in the classic tragic drama written by William Shakespeare), the incumbent governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has murdered sleep. He is holding his position tenaciously and is not prepared to vacate the prestigious office he has been occupying since May 2007. Therefore, he is not treating his campaign for re-election with levity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aliyu understands that despite being an incumbent, his re-election will not be a tea party, especially considering the influence of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change in the cluttered political landscape of the state. However, observers have submitted that it will be difficult to dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party from the state\u2019s administration in April based on the doggedness, innovation and stamina Aliyu has brought into his political marketing ahead of the polls.<\/span><\/p>\n

The governor, along with his think-tank and the entire leadership of the PDP in the state, has since relocated to the rural areas. Abandoning his cosy residence and forsaking his comfort zone, the governor is traversing all the interior villages in the state, riding on bumpy, bushy roads and appealing to voters in the rural areas to queue up behind him. He has travelled to almost all the communities in the three senatorial zones of the state, visiting community heads, traditional rulers and emirs\u2019 palaces to sell his programme of \u201cconsolidation\u201d to voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

As expected, the people trooped out to welcome their governor. It was a rare opportunity, all thanks to the April polls, for the masses to behold him. For many of them, that has been the closest they have ever got to the governor. So, communities stood still. There were unusual political excitement as women, men, youths and children hurried out of their huts to catch a glimpse of the governor, who they loudly called Talba.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aliyu condescended to their level, waved repeatedly at them and begged for their support. Again, the events led to political reawakening among the excited crowds and they hoped that the promises of the governor would not end on the campaign ground. Aliyu did not forget any village in zones A, B and C of the state. Even darkness didn\u2019t prevent him from holding his rallies. Surprisingly, some rallies were held at 1 am and people still patiently waited as the tired governor reeled out his promises.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, the governor\u2019s strategy of combining rallies with inauguration and inspection of projects had endeared him to the people. In Zone C, he was proud to inaugurate a health centre in Makira, transformers in Makusidi and inspect ongoing road projects at Babana and Agwara. Similarly, he inaugurated the Daba and Batiti roads; a general hospital at Kutigi and inspected ongoing rural development projects in Zone A. Aliyu adopted the same method in Zone C, attracting crowds of people from the communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The governor wasn\u2019t ashamed to apologise to some communities for failing to fulfil the promises he made to them in 2007. For example, he adopted such an approach when he visited communities in Agwara Local Government Area. He blamed the development on the paucity of funds.<\/span><\/p>\n

He, however, assured that all the outstanding promises consisting of electrification and water projects would be fulfilled if given the second chance to oversee the affairs of the state in April. He was bold to tell most communities that he had delivered on the promises he made in his first tenure and that they should reciprocate by casting their votes for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Aliyu was overwhelmed by the massive turnout of supporters in all the senatorial districts. He was confident that the development was an indication that the PDP would clear all the votes in the April general elections. He believed that the achievements of his administration accounted for the large number of people that came out to receive him in the rural communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said with the people-oriented projects he had inaugurated in the areas of education and health, voters in the state were eager to give his administration a second chance to consolidate on the projects. It was also time for the governor to make more promises. For instance, he told the communities in Baro that his administration would ensure the completion of an ongoing construction of a hospital in the area, noting that education would be a top priority if given a second chance. He immediately ordered his commissioner for works to urgently award a contract for the construction of the Badegi-Katcha Road, just as he hinged the completion of Baro Port on the success of his second term bid.<\/span><\/p>\n

All the communities were littered with his campaign materials. His posters, banners and hoardings littered everywhere. The image of the governor was gummed to trees and hung in the vegetation. Children who heard sounds of sirens came out displaying posters of the governor. The youths, men and women wore vests and fez caps bearing his photograph. They all hailed him and followed his campaign train.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as the PDP campaign train traverses all nooks and crannies of the state, making fresh promises and selling its candidates, opposition parties have been forced to reactivate their campaign strategies. While the campaign strategies of the ANPP and the CPC are shrouded in secrecy, those of the ACN are obvious and confrontational. The party, with its broom revolution, moved its campaign train to zones already covered by the PDP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immediately the PDP left Zone C, the governorship candidate of the ACN, Mr. Abubakar Bwari, invaded the zone in an attempt to undo what Aliyu had done. Bwari built his campaign around the unfulfilled promises of the PDP and appealed to the electorate to identify with the ACN. The party asked voters to take a clue from ACN\u2019s developmental strides in Lagos and Edo states and send the PDP packing in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

The party directed people\u2019s attention to deplorable roads, dilapidated school infrastructure, lack of potable water and unavailability of health care facilities in the zones. No wonder, Bwari\u2019s Director, Media and Publicity, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, was confident after the party\u2019s campaign tour. He claimed that the masses were tired of the unfulfilled promises of the PDP and were willing to send the party packing at the polls.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said that all the rural roads were deplorable, posing a challenge to travellers and raising questions about what the PDP-led administration had done for 12 years with the state\u2019s resources. He raised the alarm over entrenched poverty in the rural areas, saying that the PDP had no moral right to approach the people in the state for votes in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vatsa, who said the party took time to visit all the rural communities in the zone such as Mariga, Mashegu, Bangi, Kotongoro, Kontagora, Nasko and Ibeto, observed that the people were crying and wailing over lack of access to basic amenities. He claimed that the masses trooped out en masse in Ibeto community, the home of the incumbent deputy governor, to receive the campaign train of the ACN.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cIn Niger State, with what I have seen in Zone C in our governorship campaign, I\u2019m fully convinced that the ACN in Niger State will dislodge the PDP. We\u2019re calling on the electorate to vote and defend their votes because the PDP has nothing left again. The people are tired and disenchanted. The people are saying that the PDP is deceitful. They don\u2019t trust them again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe PDP is the only party that is built around deceit. If you come to the rural areas, you will be tempted to ask the ruling party why they invested money on centenary celebration of Minna and other jamborees while the masses are suffering. There is no road. In most cases, the people are doing a journey of 30 minutes for four hours. It is unfair. There is no electricity; most of the communities are in darkness. There are no jobs for all the youths.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn 12 years of the PDP, nothing has been achieved. In all the places we went to in the zone, there was no water anywhere. Water vendors have depots everywhere in the zone. We\u2019re telling the people what the ACN has done in Lagos and Edo. The ACN is not a party of deceit. The PDP has to pack and go to allow people with vision to deliver Niger State from entrenched poverty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, despite the claims of Vatsa, observers believe that the strategy of integrating project inauguration and inspection with political rallies adopted by the PDP has given Aliyu brighter chances of reclaiming his position in April. So, pundits believe that the voters may look at the entire political scenario as a case of \u201cthe devil we know is better than an angel we have not seen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the rest here:
\nApril polls: Aliyu\u2019s campaign strategies, hurdles in Niger<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days to the April 2011 general elections, the battle has become intense nationwide. MIKE ODIEGWU writes that electioneering strategies adopted by the major governorship candidates in Niger State may ultimately determine who occupies the Minna Government House in May Like Macbeth (in the classic tragic drama written by William Shakespeare), the incumbent governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has murdered sleep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-339122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nApril polls: Aliyu\u2019s campaign strategies, hurdles in Niger - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/26\/april-polls-aliyus-campaign-strategies-hurdles-in-niger\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"April polls: Aliyu\u2019s campaign strategies, hurdles in Niger - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A few days to the April 2011 general elections, the battle has become intense nationwide. 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