President Goodluck Jonathan has, for the first
time, questioned the results of the March 28
presidential election, maintaining that the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) is still the dominant party
in Nigeria.
Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), before the final
result was announced but has now said he only
did it for the unity of Nigeria. He said the PDP
could not have recorded the low scores recorded
for him in some areas, and attributed the loss in
Benue and Kogi to infighting.
The president was speaking on Thursday at the
submission of the report of the PDP Presidential
Campaign Organisation (PPCO) at the new banquet
hall of the presidential villa. Jonathan said: “PDP
is still the dominant party. If you look at the
result, the difference is just over two million
votes. And if you look at the areas where it is
perceived that PDP scored so low, PDP couldn’t
have gotten those kinds of scores.” He said now
that the elections are over, “I put the country
first”. That Nigeria is at peace is worth
celebrating, Jonathan said, appearing to confirm
reports that some western countries had put ships
on standby to evacuate their citizens in
preparation for a post-election crisis in Nigeria.
He said: “The countries that brought ships,
everything around us, waiting to evacuate their
citizens are happy because there was nobody to
evacuate. The country was so tensed but
everything has gone down now and I think that is
the most important thing because the conviction
is that you must have a country before you can
run for an office. “Nigeria is a very complex
country and you must manage it with care.
Yes, I did not consult anybody before I made that
phone call but I made that phone call on behalf of
all you and on behalf of the PDP.” Jonathan said
the PDP remains “the most organized party” and
one that is not owned by “anybody”, urging them
to put the loss in the 2015 elections behind and
bounce back in 2019. “The key thing isn’t
whether we lost or won but that Nigeria as a
nation must move forward.
Political parties can only thrive when there is
peace and stability in the country. If there is
military intervention, all the parties will
disappear,” he said. ”And for PDP whatever
happened now is like a slip, you don’t need to go
to America to know how power goes from the
Democrats to the Republicans… it has almost
stabilised. It is like once you serve eight years
you are ready to hand over to either the
Republicans or the Democrats. So theirs is almost
an established setting.
But our neighbour Ghana, the present ruling party
lost some eight years back and, of course, they
came back and won the elections. “So the
problem is not whether we lost the elections. That
is history now but how do we consolidate our
party and move forward? If we are committed and
if we work very hard, definitely PDP will bounce
back. “PDP is still the dominant party. If you look
at the result, the difference is just over two million
votes and if you look at the areas where it is
perceived that PDP scored so low, PDP couldn’t
have gotten those kinds of scores but the
elections are over, we put the country first. ”It is
not as if Jonathan alone made the sacrifice.
It’s all of us. I made the pronouncement but some
of us are paying the price. Some people pay more
price than I do. I know how some of you are
already being persecuted and the kind of situation
facing you. The key thing is that we must
continue to unite. As a party, we must continue to
work hard so that as we go into subsequent
elections in 2019, 2023 and so on and so forth,
PDP will continue to come up strong. “Even in the
interest of the nation, we need PDP.
I still believe though we have lost presidential
election, some national assembly elections,
governorship elections especially in the north,
PDP is still the dominant party. Let us not judge
PDP by the results of the presidential election.
“Our duty is to go back and identify areas of
challenges so that the party will come up strong
and play the role as a very strong party. PDP is
still the most organised party, it is still the party
that is not owned by anybody, it is still the party
that whatever you are you can get to any level
with your competences and so on. “I encourage
members of our party to remain loyal to the party,
not to be so disillusioned because we lost
presidential election and decide to go where they
think they will fill their stomachs or something. It
is not easy. I have been here for five years plus,
you hardly satisfy even 50 per cent of those who
work for you.
“So those people running and those already
cross-carpeting, they will come back on an empty
stomach because they (APC) will first touch the
primary members of their party, before they get to
you, they know you are coming because you are
hungry.
Before it will get to you, the food will be gone.
“So let us be committed to the party. Yes we will
have challenges at the beginning but surely we
will get to where we want to be.” Ahmadu Ali,
former PDP chairman and director-general of the
PCO, commended Jonathan for showing
“exemplary leadership” and making the PDP
proud despite losing. Tony Anenih, chairman of
PDP’s board of trustees, said the party that will
prepare for the 2019 must be formed now. He
said: “We experienced betrayals and conspiracy
but let us put all that behind us and work hard to
remain a strong and formidable party.”
No comments:
Post a Comment