Don’t Contest 2015 Election, New PDP tells President

The splinter group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, yesterday called on President Goodluck Jonathan not to contest the 2015 presidential election, urging him to be a hero and save the country from a needless crisis. In the same vein, members of the House of Representatives loyal to the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, reacted to the pro-
Jonathan members of the House, stating that they lacked the necessary capacity to defend the interest of the president in the lower legislative chamber. Specifically referring to the pro-Jonathan lawmakers, led by Hon. Bethel Amadi, they said if they had the capacity, both the speaker and deputy speaker of the House would not have emerged against the resolution of the PDP, which had zoned both positions to the South-west and North-east respectively. This is just as two of the aggrieved governors – Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State – have stated that no amount of intimidation by the presidency or threats by the PDP to sanction them and other members of the New PDP will make them deviate from the path of “truth and justice”. In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the breakaway PDP, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, the New PDP said: “We wish to advise President Jonathan to abandon his plan to seek re-election in 2015 as this ambition of his is not in the best interest of the country.” It added: “Though he has yet to categorically declare his intention to run, President Jonathan has given enough clues indicating that he is working towards doing so. The latest of such clues came on Sunday in New York, USA. “Speaking at a luncheon with Nigerian professionals in the United States, President Jonathan insisted that he is eligible to contest in 2015, stating that we have a constitution that makes a provision for a maximum of eight years for anyone who wants to become a president or a governor.” ‘ The New PDP said the disclosure by the president in New York was nothing new as he made a similar claim in April 2012 in his affidavit, in response to the suit instituted at an Abuja High Court by a PDP chieftain, Cyriacus Njoku, seeking to stop him from contesting the 2015 presidential election. The splinter PDP said it was worried that the president was insisting on running by his body language, in contrast to his previous promise not to do so, and in spite of the wise counsel of well-meaning Nigerians, including respected elder statesmen. According to the statement by the New PDP, “In February 2011, while interacting with Nigerians and diplomats working in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Jonathan clearly stated: ‘I would have loved that the Nigerians in Diaspora vote this year (2011) but to be frank with you, that is going to be difficult now. Presently, the law does not allow voting outside Nigeria and so this year
Nigerians in Diaspora will not vote but I will work towards it by 2015 even though I will not be running for election’.” The faction added that the president went ahead to state: “‘Four years were enough for anyone in power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there for the next four years’.
“This is a historical fact which Mr. President himself cannot deny now since he had two years to deny that statement but never did so. How does Mr. President want Nigerians and the entire world to see him for this volte face? “Why can’t he not keep his word as a man of honour instead of allowing himself to be misled by selfish advisers to go back on his word, thereby overheating the polity? “Mr. President should heed the advice of well-meaning distinguished personalities such as constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) and Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, all of whom have advised him to correctly read the handwriting on the wall and stay away from the 2015 presidential race. “By 2015, President Jonathan would have served our nation for six solid years. This surely is enough time for him to achieve whatever he is capable of doing for Nigeria. “What else is he looking for that is making him desperate to participate in the 2015 presidential election despite warnings that doing so may spark a chain of events capable of culminating into the country’s disintegration, thereby bringing to pass the predictions of Lord Lugard that Nigeria as a nation by 2014 maybe history, which was later confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency in the US, that Nigeria may disintegrate by 2015. “Apart from all these, should President Jonathan contest and win by 2015, it means he would have spent ten years in office and will be sworn in three times as the President of Nigeria against the provisions of the country’s constitution.” The splinter group appealed to the president to “abandon this ill-advised move and save our nation from catastrophe,” adding “God has been merciful to you, Mr. President, lifting you from being a university teacher to President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in so short a time is something you should be grateful and be contented with.” It urged him to listen to the voice of reason and avoid overstretching his good luck, stating, “A word is enough for the wise.” The group’s appeal to the president coincided with the one from the leader of pro-Tambuwal lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Dr. Abdulmunin Jibrin, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, who stated that though there was no plot to impeach the president, he said members with sympathy for Jonathan lacked the capacity to defend the interest of the president in the chamber. His reaction came against the backdrop of the warning issued by pro-Jonathan lawmakers to move against the leadership of the House. Speaking on Amadi, who has been championing the president’s cause in the lower House, Jibrin said: “He and his colleagues do not have the capacity to do what they claimed that they want to do. If Bethel Amadi and his group had the capacity, even if we actually wanted to impeach the president, he and his colleagues do not have the capacity to stop us. “If he and his colleagues had the capacity to stop us, he would have been deputy speaker of the House today. “We are still in the majority in the House. He
had contested for the office of the deputy speaker previously and we defeated him and their supporters on the floor of the House and Emeka Ihedioha was elected instead of him. “Please make no mistake of our numerical strength. We are still in the majority in the House. And if the truth must be told, nobody can accuse the House of being hostile to the president, as we know that the reverse is indeed the case.” He dismissed reports of an impeachment plot against the president, saying it was a false alarm raised by members who misinterpreted his statement. “Nobody has said that we are going to impeach the president. What we said is that impeachment is part of a constitutional democracy and if there is any reason why that tool should be used, we will not hesitate to enforce it. Does that amount to saying that we want to impeach the president, absolutely not. “What we are doing in the New PDP is a struggle for justice, but to some people, it is business and therefore very easy to raise the alarm on impeachment of the president, where there is nothing to suggest that. “Some people want to use the impeachment threat, where there is none, to get the governorship ticket of the party or one favour or the other, all in the name of protecting the president,” Jibrin said.
Meanwhile, the Jigawa State governor yesterday said no amount of intimidation by the presidency would deter the G7 governors from deviating from the path of truth and justice. Lamido made the assertion while inaugurating a road project in Dange Shuni Local Government Area, Sokoto State. He said the seven governors were genuine patriots, who believed in truth and transparent leadership, adding that they were determined to stand by truth in protecting the interest of the people and would not be cowed no matter the level of intimidation and sponsored articles by the presidency to harass them. “No matter the level of intimidation or sponsored articles to harass us, we will always stand by the truth. We are determined to protect the interest of our people.
“So we are ready to face anybody to ensure that the interest of our people prevail because the G7 governors are genuine and sincere leaders who believe in honest and transparent leadership,” Lamido said. Lamido described his colleague, the Governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko, as a visionary leader, who was committed to
service delivery to the people of the state.
He lauded Wamakko for his giant strides in development projects, particularly in healthcare, infrastructure and housing, which had impacted on the lives of the people. Also, the Special Adviser to the Kano State Governor on Solid Minerals, Hajia Balaraba Mustapha, said yesterday that neither the federal government, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) nor any other law enforcement agencies could intimidate Kwankwaso and the G7 governors. Mustapha led several women supporters of the governor under the Kwankwasiyya Political Awareness Group to hold a peaceful
rally in Kano yesterday, declaring support for the governor. While responding to reporters’ questions after the rally, she said: “With the party crisis now, our governor is not afraid of EFCC even if they threaten him.” Mustapha observed that the federal government is saddled with several cases of fraud and corruption perpetrated by greedy and selfish functionaries of government, and advised the government to turn its searchlight on them instead of her principal.
She said: “Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had undergone serious security and judicial harassment in the eight years the state was run by the Shekarau administration, but he came out clean. “From 1999 to 2003, when Kwankwaso presided over the affairs of Kano to his second coming in 2011, he has never been found wanting in the areas of corruption and mismanagement of the public treasury. Rather, he has been attested to be one of the most prudent, honest and hardest working governors by both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and many other international bodies.”