TheCable

Dele Momodu, director of strategic communications of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign, says Atiku Abubakar would garner the required 25 percent of the votes in all 19 northern states. 

The Ovation Magazine publisher spoke in a chat with Arise TV on Monday.

According to the Nigerian constitution, to be elected the president, a candidate must secure the highest number of votes and the required 25 percent in two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation.

Momodu said Atiku is the only “mainstream candidate” from the north and would have no problem sweeping the region.

He said the PDP candidate would cross the 24 states threshold by polling 25 percent of the votes in five states in the south.

“Atiku is going to get all his 25 percent in the 19 northern states. And all he will need to cross 24 states will be just five in the south,” Momodu said.

“In the south, wherever Obi is number one, Atiku will be number too. Where Tinubu is number one, Atiku will be number two. And he will also pick some states in the south.

“The mathematical side of an election must be combined with factors that spur people to vote. The number one factor is ethnicity. In Nigeria, we have different major ethnic groups. And each of them is deeply entrenched.

“The majority of Tinubu supporters in the south-west support him because he is a Yoruba man. In the north, you have one mainstream candidate that is Atiku. The mathematical side of it is that the north already has 19 states in its three regions while the south has 17. The south is already at a disadvantage.

“The history of it is that whenever we have two strong south candidates, it is always difficult, if not impossible, to defeat the mainstream northern candidate.”

The presidential election is billed to hold on February 25 with Atiku contesting against three other leading candidates — Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP)) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).