Dr Patrick Dakum, the Governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Plateau State, has said that the North Central part of the country is a stronghold of it’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Dr. Dakum, who’s the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, Baltimore stated this in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune.
On the chances of Obi in the North, he said: “I have not been everywhere, but I have been to Plateau, which is part of the North, and I know that Peter Obi will pool close to 80 per cent of votes here in Plateau State. I have been to Nasarawa State and have seen the acceptability there. I have also been talking to my colleagues who are governorship candidates across the country. Even in Kano State, a lot of acceptability is also coming up.
“If you ask me, is Peter Obi the most favoured candidate in the North, the answer might not be yes, but if you say that Obi comes in first or second in some states in the North, I will say yes. Reality checks reveal that in the North-East, Obi might not come first, but in the North-West, Peter Obi will give a good run to whoever comes in as number one there.
“In the North-Central, he has the highest chance of coming first because Obi will win in Plateau, Benue, and a chunk of Niger. I want you to note that the APC has never won in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. I can assure you that LP will win the FCT hands down. Kwara State is also another big opportunity for Peter Obi. All we need to do is continue with the momentum and ensure that the energies are converted into votes.
He also expressed confidence on the use of BVAS, adding that it might not be perfect but it’s better than what we have now.
“It is a bimodal voting accreditation system, where you have facial recognition and also a fingerprint. Anything that is internet-dependent is a thing of concern to a lot of people and also something that people are not used to could be scary. And the general fear is that, if my PVC and my finger cannot be verified or the facial recognition fails, what is going to happen? These are all fears, but I believe that the experience we went through in the past few off-season elections, where this was used with minor hitches, gave assurance that the BVAS is better than the old system where people were manually accredited.
“My overall assessment is that we can rely on BVAS. Nothing in this world is 100 per cent. If overall we have a success percentage of 90, I think that is good enough and the system will be gradually perfected as we move forward. Yes, there is a basis for fear, but we need to give it a trial.”
