• Defence Minister, Olajumoke, Nweke, Kashamu, PDP chairmen: Nobody can stop him
• We’ll make it impossible for him to win because he has failed Nigerians, say Saraki, APC chiefs
President Goodluck Jonathan is under intense pressure from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders to formally declare his second term ambition. Also at the weekend, the Oba of Benin, Omo N’oba N’edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Erediauwa, sent the Crown Prince, Ambassador Eheneden Erediauwa, to convey his endorsement of the president for the 2015 election. A series of similar endorsements are expected to follow. And barring a change of plan, Jonathan may formally declare his second term ambition in May. In Ondo State, prominent members of the PDP yesterday asked Jonathan to declare his intention.
At a meeting hosted by former Minister of Defence, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN) which had in attendance Senator Bode Olajumoke, former Speakers of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Victor Olabimtan and Taofiq Abdusalam, senatorial chairman of Ondo North PDP, Chief Femi Omosanya; Youth Leader, Mr. Rasheed Elegbeleye and state Publicity Secretary, Chief Wale Ozogoro, the party leaders called on the president to quickly declare his re-election bid. “The party in the district wants to pledge our unalloyed total support for Mr. President and implore him to declare and contest the presidential election of 2015,” Kayode said.
The former minister, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said the party took the decision to support Jonathan because he is the most qualified for the job because he is on the job and still has age on his side. The South-South Community (SoSCom) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja at the weekend declared support for Jonathan’s second term, describing him as God’s gift to Nigeria. Former Commissioner of Police of FCT, Lawrence Alobi, who spoke after his election as SoSCom chairman, said as a security expert, Nigeria is lucky to have Jonathan as a president at this critical time in her history.
“As a security expert, who served this country to the capacity of a Commissioner of Police, any person who said President Jonathan has failed is living in his own world. “If he was a man who has no compassion, things would have been worse than what it is today. Jonathan is God’s gift to us; he has tried, he has done well,” he said. The Chairman, Organisation and Mobilisation of South-West PDP, Prince Buruji Kashamu, on his part, told New Telegraph that the law allows Jonathan to seek re-election and that the president’s achievements stood him in good stead to secure victory. Kashamu said: “First and foremost, I think he should contest because it is his constitutionally guaranteed right.
He is just doing his first term as president. The law allows him to seek reelection. Number two, he should contest on account of his achievements. Look at his intervention in the education sector which is unprecedented. “In spite of the security situation in the country, the president has been steady and sure in his focus and it only requires Nigerians to support him. So, I think Jonathan deserves a second term.” Newly-elected Kwara State chairman of the PDP, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, stated that Jonathan is constitutionally entitled to second term and that he should not hesitate to declare for the second term.
Oyedepo said: “He hasn’t exhausted his guaranteed constitutional tenure so he should recontest. He has the right; he was there as Acting President and finished that time and right now, he won an election for the first time so he has the right to a second term. Director General of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, (NESG) Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., stressed that the people of South-East would continue to support the Jonathan presidency for a second term.
Nweke noted that “Jonathan’s transformation agenda has scored a pass mark with the people,” maintaining that in his second term, the president would consolidate on achievements already recorded. Osun State chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, told New Telegraph that Jonathan was the most qualified person to contest for the presidency in 2015 on the platform of the party. Olaoluwa described the president as a focused leader who meant well for the citizens and unity of the country.
Chairman, Niger State PDP, Alhaji Mahmud Abdulrahman Enagi, also told New Telegraph that the state is eagerly awaiting the president’s declaration. “President Jonathan is free to contest, nobody can prevent him; he is free like any other person. Once he declares, we (PDP) will support him, especially if he wins the primaries,” Enagi said. Former Secretary to the Oyo State Government (SSG) and a member of the Southern Forum, Dr. Dejo Raimi, said the forum was ready to mobilise for Jonathan’s re-election.
According to him, “President Jonathan really deserves a second term because as a member of the Southern Forum, I strongly believe that the region he comes from had not been fairly treated. The golden egg which is the petroleum that the whole nation is enjoying, is being largely produced by the people of the South South. They are the chicken laying the golden egg, yet they are not appreciated. “Jonathan has altruistic intention for Nigeria. He has corrected many of the wrongs of the past, and he is very keen on maintaining the unity of this country…”
Former PDP National Vice Chairman (South-West), Alhaji Yekini Adeojo, told New Telegraph that Nigeria can’t afford not to have Jonathan in 2015. His words: “We know what Jonathan can do and we are solidly behind him as PDP members in Oyo and the entire South-West in general. We have passed a vote of confidence on him, and resolved that we are solidly behind Jonathan to contest in 2015.
“Those who ruled us for several years, what have they done so remarkable? Those who had governed us before Jonathan, did they do anything, particularly for us in the South-West? People are talking of power, power. Is it an exclusive preserve of any group? Director of Socials in Edo PDP, Deacon Pascal Ugbome, said a second term in office would further afford Jonathan the opportunity to complete most of the laudable programmes he has started.
However, former governor of Kwara State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bukola Saraki, has asked Nigerians not to be afraid of voting out Jonathan and the PDP in 2015.
Saraki, in an interview with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State, said refusing to vote out a failed government just because voters fear that they have not experienced the abilities of the alternative party at the federal level of office will be a disservice to democracy. His words: “The simple question every Nigerian should ask himself is if you are happy with the way Nigeria is today; happy about the level government is fighting insecurity, happy about the level government is fighting corruption, and you are happy about the level government is fighting youth unemployment, then you stay with the PDP.
“But if you mark those as not satisfactory, then you must look for an alternative. It is that alternative that we in APC are providing. But I must also be honest to say what Nigerians are saying today is that yes, we have marked the PDP as unsatisfactory, but you guys in APC must prove to us that you will be better. Nigerians have accepted the PDP as a failure but they are asking that you in APC prove to us that you will be better and that is the message we are taking out throughout the country over the next few weeks.
“If somebody comes in and again becomes unsatisfactory then vote it out. Then anybody coming in knows that power belongs to the people. But if you accommodate a non-performing government because of the fear of the future then we are doing injustice to democracy.
Because the only issue today among Nigerian is to be sure that the APC will stand for change, not that I think that PDP has a chance of scoring high again. I think most Nigerians have left that.” In his own disposition, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of Osun APC, Kunle Oyatomi, said Nigeria has regressed under Jonathan. “The issue is not whether Jonathan should or should not contest 2015 presidential election.
What we are saying in the APC is that we are going to make it impossible for him to win. Jonathan is not an electoral asset for the PDP because he is the worst president Nigeria has ever had. The Niger State Deputy Chairman of the APC, Mr. Solomon Nyanse, said the opposition party will defeat PDP come 2015.
Source: New Telegraph
