NORTHERNERS WILL SECURE VICTORY FOR JONATHAN – ENOGHA

A member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon Robert Enogha, has said President Goodluck Jonathan would get at least 90 per cent of the votes from the North in the 2011 presidential election.

In an interview with Sunday Sun, Hon Enogha premised his assurance on the fact that the vice president, Namadi Sambo, who hails from the region, is highly respected.

'We have ministers of substance from the North and they are very highly respected. We also have most of the governors from there that are always with the president. We have former heads of state, and apart from maybe (Ibrahim) Babangida, none of them has spoken negatively about Jonatha n. Shagari, Gowon and others are on the side of Jonathan. Therefore, I don't see any opposition from the North.'

He said the challenge by the likes of Babaginda, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and others from North was not new because it happens in other climes.

'Barack Obama was so brilliant during the campaigns, which ordinarily would have made Americans to say 'you don't need to contest election.' But there were pockets of interests that came to play. All what happened at that time were meant to strengthen that brilliant and unassuming articulate person that was loaded with wisdom. And so what is happening in Nigeria has happened in other places before and will still be happening as part of the beauty of democracy.'

Reacting to speculations that some South-south governors might be working against Jonathan's presidential bid, he dismissed it as mere speculation. 'I'm not sure of any South South governor that is against Mr President because of all the 27 governors that spoke at the Eagle Square, all the five South South PDP governors spoke in the affirmative. And there is no way you speak in public and you go to a hidden place to speak against.'

On his ambition to contest for a seat in the House of Representatives, he said: 'I think I have laid a solid foundation for myself after serving as Personal Assistant to the president when he was deputy governor and for nearly eight years in the House of Assembly. Altogether I have put in 12 solid years in public service. It is a reasonable foundation to be admitted to another parliamentary school. I'm not over-catapulting myself. I believe in climbing the ladder of life gradually.'