By Olayinka Latona

One of the four Presidential aspirants in the north on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2011 presidential race, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has been said to be making significant gains and in-roads among delegates to the convention, cutting into the early gains made by President Goodluck Jonathan.

A survey by the London-based research group, International Institute of Social Science Research, indicated that in most of the states in the country, Atiku had cut significantly into Jonathan’s lead.

Spokesman of the research group, Nuhu Shuiabu, who briefed newsmen on their findings in Abuja, weekend, said Jonathan’s support in the North had virtually disappeared due to the recent bombing incident in Abuja and the way it was handled. They also found that the recent controversy concerning the alleged award of nine off-shore oil wells had severely shaken the President’s supporters in the mainly Christian states of the Middle-Belt.

The research, which the report said included responses from 1,038 people, the majority of whom are PDP chairmen in 774 local governments and who are statutory delegates to the convention gave reasons for Atiku’s upward climb in the PDP race.

The findings of the survey also reflected the movement of support from Jonathan to other candidates in the South-East. It cited in particular the government’s abortion of the Igbo Political Summit in Owerri, Imo State in October which had the effect of alienating the President’s key supporters in the region.

The survey noted that not even a recent meeting between Jonathan and Dr. Alex Ekwueme brokered by former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku has been able to assuage the feelings of the people of the South-east, who viewed the disruption of their confab as an affront on Ndigbo.