The Odds Will Still Favour President Jonathan - Brookings, U.S-based Institute

The Brookings Institution/Africa Growth Initiative, a U.S policy institute has adjudged President Goodluck Jonathan as the best to win the February 14 presidential polls.

In a report entitled: “The 2015 Presidential Elections In Nigeria: The Issues And Challenges,” Brookings said Jonathan will win the February election. Though the election is expected to be very competitive, the institute believes the odds will still favour President Jonathan.

“After suffering a wave of defections to the APC last year, including five of its governors, the PDP seems to have rebounded strongly. In the battleground South-West, for instance, the party won recent governorship elections in Ekiti State and got the governor of Ondo State to defect from the Labour Party to the PDP.

“The party is especially strong in the South-South (where Jonathan comes from), the South-East and among Christians in the North. Again, while the PDP remains weak in the Muslim North, it has gained new influential members who decamped from the APC including the former governors of Kano and Borno States.

And, of course, the PDP has the power of incumbency.

“APC gets much of its strength from tapping into Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim North and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments.