A former Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ibrahim Mantu has disclosed the reasons why former President Goodluck Jonathan was defeated at the 2015 Presidential election.
In an interview with Premium Times, the former lawmaker claimed that those who Jonathan worked with were responsible for his failure at the polls.
Mantu said, “Jonathan lost because he refused to work with people who know the game. Most of the people Jonathan worked with were mediocres and amateurs. At a point in time, he even left the party machinery and employed some consultants to work for him.”
Commenting on the role campaign groups played during the last Presidential election especially the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, Mantu said, “There are many of them. They came to Eagle Square and said they have 75 million signatures.
He said, “Where were the 75 million people when we were voting? Politics is a grassroots game. When you don’t use your structure at the grassroots, you will lose. How many people watch television? Those that have don’t have light. So, when you say you are using television to campaign, you are wasting your time. Campaign is at the grassroots level.”
Mantu admitted that the All Progressives Congress, APC, emerged victorious during the last general election because Nigerians were tied of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He said, “People were already tired of PDP. PDP was suffering from hangover, fatigue. Sixteen years in power uninterrupted is not easy in a country like Nigeria. Then, PDP became over drunk with power. We were staggering. We missed our road. We were no longer respecting the people. Virtually everywhere, APC votes came from PDP members who were angry with the party.”
The ex-Deputy Senate President however noted that the current government should be given more time before being asked to give account of its stay in power.
“You see it is too early to assess because as far as I am concerned you need to give government time. It has not even spent up to one year out of four years. You must give the government at least two years. You can be saying negative things about this government now. Initially, there is always pain in starting anything,” Mantu stated
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