THOUGH the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan at the April 16 presidential elections, is over a month old, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporters across the country are still in party mood. This is the feeling even in states where some PDP chieftains failed to deliver the presidential polls in favour of their party.

While this frenzy about Jonathan’s victory also cut across party lines, it was gathered that not a few are ignorant of how the victory was fought for especially in states controlled by opposition parties.

Before the polls, Jonathan’s chances in states controlled by the opposition, particularly the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, was described as blurred.  In several permutations before the exercise, it was believed that the presidential candidate of the ACN and former EFCC boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu would win in  ACN-controlled states, while the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano state would win states controlled by his party.

For Maj General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential  candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), his chances were tied to ethnic and religious sentiments, which gave him an edge over others in most northern states, especially the core North.

Instructively,  ACN controls the South West and Edo State, just as the ANPP is in charge of  Kano, Borno and Yobe states. Perhaps, Jonathan’s chances in Edo were initially  dismissed on account of the ACN being in charge there. It was gathered that this earlier disdain was hinged on two factors. One, the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is believed to loath the PDP like a plague.

For instance, Vanguard gathered that PDP supporters believe that since he assumed office in November 2008, the governor has worked assiduously to completely obliterate the PDP from the state.  It was therefore expected that Oshiomhole being a core ACN man would deliver the state to his party in the presidential election against all odds, if for nothing else, to prove to that he calls the shot.

Besides, top shots in Edo State PDP have been at war with themselves for some time now. These differences, have not allowed them to pull their strength together to assert themselves in the politics of the state, especially in their various constituencies.

This is why many had thought that PDP would constitute a major challenge to its (PDP) chances, at the beginning of the campaigns.

It was gathered party chieftains were already bracing up for defeat.. Commenting on the issue, Chief Emmanuel Odia, a PDP chieftain in Edo Central Senatorial Zone, noted that not a few members of Edo PDP were expecting thrashing at the polls..

That was the mindset  of most of the party stalwarts in the state when Chief of Staff to the President , Chief Mike Oghiadomhe came into the picture.

It would be recalled that the former Deputy Governor in the state convened a meeting of all stakeholders in Edo PDP and pleaded with them on the need to close ranks and work together for the success of the party in the April polls.

This was buttressed by Odia, who said,“at the beginning of the electioneering activities, I had thought that due to the internal crisis rocking our party, that we will be totally defeated. But few days before the election, Chief Oghiadomhe came to Benin and summoned a meeting, which I attended. He passionately pleaded with us to sink our differences and re-double our efforts to ensure that we come out with success.”

In addition, Oghiadomhe was said to have attempted brokering  a truce between feuding party members, just as he also reached out to former members of the party, who had left  for  ACN.

These efforts, Vanguard gathered, paid off resulting in the return of former Senate Whip, Senator Roland Owie and Captain Hosa Okunbor to the PDP. The duo were among those who worked for the emergence of the ACN government in the state.

When eventually the presidential election was held, Jonathan won the state with a landslide. He polled 542,173 votes (88 per cent of valid votes) to defeat, Ribadu (the candidate of the ruling ACN) and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), who scored 54242 votes. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) and All Nigerian Peoples Party(ANPP) polled 17,795 and 2,174 votes respectively.

The CPC and ACN scores represented 2.9 percent and 8.8 percent of the the total votes cast. There are 1,655,776 registered voters in the state. Out of this figure, 37.3 percent voted in the presidential election.

While many may want to gross over the victory of President Goodluck Joanthan in Edo State, PDP stalwarts said it was not a fluke that the President won.

A PDP chieftain in Edo South Senatorial zone, Mr Clifford Ogbeide noted, “we had some challenges before the election, which would have made the ruling party have a dismal outing in the presidential polls. But for the tireless efforts of some of our party leaders in the state, we would have been outrightly disgraced by the ruling party in the state.”

He admitted that but for the collective efforts of party leaders in the state, the victory would not have been possible.

Ogbeide said beside the former chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Anthony Anenih,  “one person that put everything on line to ensure the success of the of the party ( PDP) in the presidential election in the state is the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe.”

In the same vein, a PDP chieftain in Edo North,  Alhaji Sule Osheke paid glowing tributes to the former Edo State deputy governor for the manner he galvanized the members of the party to support the Jonathan presidency project. An excited Osheke said, “our leaders are like the pot that cooked the project and the steward that delivered it”.

Similarly, in other geo-political zones like the South-West and South-East, the same feat was replicated by party chieftains.

The landslide victory of the PDP in Anambra, where APGA holds sway, says a lot about the efforts of PDP members. Like Edo PDP that is being held down by internal wrangling, Anambra state chapter of the PDP, has remained fragmented.

While the possibility of peace could be likened to the Biblical camel passing through the eye of the needle, analysts cannot stop wondering how party members withdrew the their swords for Jonathan’s victory.

If the feat of the ruling party in Anambra is still capturing the imagination of observers, the landslide victory in the South-West has left tongues wagging.

For some, the triumph of PDP is not unconnected with an alleged pact between the leadership of the ACN, while others are convinced that president Jonathan’s personality, earned him the South West votes.

In a region, where its voting pattern has usually been shaped by ‘progressive alignment’, PDP’s success has remained a puzzle to observers.