By Alao Abiodun

A former Osun State deputy governor, Prince Adesuyi Haastrup, has explained how the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, lost to President-elect Bola Tinubu in the February 25 election.
The Ilesa-born prince, who used the state-by-state results to arrive at his position, said he had visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo three weeks before the election and told him that Obi, who he was supporting, was a loser.
On the demographic rationale for the losses of the PDP and LP candidates, Haastrup said: “I told Papa Obasanjo that Labour Party had not won even a local government seat in the entire country and, therefore, had no structure. I didn’t see the Labour Party being able to fund party agents at all in the polls in Nigeria and at the moment, the core North would not support an Igbo President.
“The best arrangement, I had told Papa Obasanjo, was to support Tinubu, telling him that if he wins, you (Papa Obasanjo), Asiwaju Tinubu, and other Southern leaders can meet the Northern leaders, clerics, for a final settlement between the Igbo and the core North.
“Papa Obasanjo admitted he had worked for Obi’s success in the Southsouth, the Southeast, Southwest, and Christians in the North, but a lot still needed to be done in the core North.”
Commenting on other factors that helped the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate to win the election, he said: “The new naira note crunch came in the nick of time that should have helped Atiku to win by a landslide. This also helped Obi in the South as people were frustrated and angry. But because Asiwaju is a man of ‘destiny’, there came a three pronged crises that robbed Atiku of his victory.
“If Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had not left the PDP and formed his own party, Alhaji Atiku would have captured about 1,200,000 votes in Kano State, which would have narrowed Asiwaju’s lead to a small margin. If Obi had not pulled out of the PDP, Atiku would have won the whole of the Southeast, giving him a good lead over Asiwaju Tinubu.
“The G5 crisis that finally nailed the PDP would have been averted if (PDP erstwhile National Chairman Iyorchia) Ayu had voluntarily stepped down in the interest of the party.”

“When Asiwaju won the primary, many people, counting on the tightly knitted culture of the North, were sure that most APC governors in the core North would rather work for Atiku than Asiwaju. However, the ‘generational changes’ that helped Obi in Lagos, helped Tinubu in the core North. Thus, the new generation leaders in the North did the unprecedented; coordinated by our First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Kano State Governor Umar Ganduje, Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Massari, Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu and other APC governors rebelled against the old order and forced primary election on the older generation in APC, which saw Tinubu to victory in the primary.
“Similarly, they worked hard for his victory in the general election. Thus, Tinubu ran neck and neck with Atiku in the core North with a solid vote from the Southwest, and, with the three-pronged crises in the PDP, coasted him to victory: a man of ‘destiny’ indeed.”