Opposition copied our manifesto, says Mu’azu
Bafarawa urges Buhari to join PDP
President, Fashola, Aregbesola, Fayemi, Amosun meet on Ekiti, Osun polls
President Goodluck Jonathan came down hard on the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday.
Speaking at the North- West zonal rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna, Jonathan described the merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which led to the formation of the APC as “a combination of different acids in a container”.
He advised PDP members not to be bothered by the propaganda of the APC in its bid to wrest power from the ruling party in 2015 “because such gang ups will fail”. The president recalled that in 1999, two of the then registered political parties, the All Peoples Party (APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), ganged up against the PDP but their efforts failed to defeat the party.
According to him, AD produced the presidential candidate while APP produced the running mate but the alliance failed to stop PDP’s victory in 1999. The presidential candidate of the AD/APP alliance, Chief Olu Falae, lost to the PDP candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Jonathan predicted that the current merger that produced APC will also fail.
Describing the merger as a combination of different acids in a container, the president said that great parties all over the world do not change their names and identities like the PDP. Jonathan cited the South African-based African National Congress (ANC) which has remained the same for over 100 years.
He advised PDP members that “the moment you see a party changing like a rock undergoing metamorphosis, you should know that that is not where to go,’’ asking them to be committed to the party. According to him, PDP is the only democratic party that anybody can rise to the highest level in the party and in the country.
“Other parties will not give me and you the opportunity to be where we want to go,’’ he added. Jonathan, who said the PDP is still the dominant party in the North-West, also assured party members that the party will retain its dominance in the zone by winning Sokoto, Zamfara and Kano states in 2015. Speaking in the same vein, PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Muázu, said that “the entire manifesto of the APC is just a section of my party’s manifesto”.
“This shows that even in governance, they will only do part of what we are able to do.’’ According to the chairman, he will soon convene a meeting of stakeholders to update the PDP manifesto and make it reflect more of the needs and aspirations of the people. Mu’azu, who thanked party men for making him the chairman, said that he is not the “game changer’’ as he is popularly referred to.
He said: “It is God the Almighty who has decided to change the party while I am the chairman.’’ He prayed for God’s guidance for the PDP and other parties but assured the gathering that the PDP will win in 2015. Also, former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, urged one of the leading lights of the APC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), to join the PDP if he wants the unity and progress of the North, in particular, and the country as a whole.
Bafarawa, who gave the advice at the rally, said that there is still vacancy for Buhari in the ruling PDP. Bafarawa, who described Buhari as his respected leader and elder brother, noted that PDP already has five states out of seven in the North-West.
“Therefore, my leader whom I respect in politics, by age and by everything, I’m assuring him that by joining PDP, he is going to help the North, the North- West, for the good of this country,’’ Bafarawa added. According to Bafarawa, since he joined the PDP a month ago, he has seen that all is well in the party so “we should all give it our support.’’
The former governor, who said that he is not looking for any appointment by joining the PDP, said that he is only out to serve his new party from state to national level. Meanwhile, the President yesterday met behind closed doors with four South-West APC governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting, which lasted for over an hour, was attended by Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun). After the meeting, the governors refused to disclose why they met the president but it was learnt that some of the issues discussed centered on the June 21 and August 9 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, some Federal Government projects in the zone and the National Conference. Said Fashola: “It was a private meeting, if there is need for you to know, the Presidential media aide will brief”.
When reporters accosted Fayemi, he simply responded: “We came to discuss national issues with the President”
Source: New Telegraph
