Despite insisting that declaring 2015 reelection ambitions will be detrimental to his transformation agenda, President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, to declare his ambition as he (Anenih) insists that the time is right.
President Jonathan has been insisting that 2015 is still far and “does not like to be distracted”.
But certain northern elements have been resolute that the president signed a pact binding him to spend only a term in office but it has been vehemently denied by the presidency.
However, Anenih, has said during the PDP post convention dinner at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja on Sunday that the president should state his presidential ambition by the end of September “as we enter October”.
He claimed that such decision was necessary to help the party chart a clearer course for the 2015 elections.
Anenih said: “I will appeal to our leader, the President of this country, that at the end of September or as we enter October, we should not tell anybody that the time is not right. I think the time is right. It is good that we tell our people where we are going to; what our journey will be like.”
Referring to the on-going reconciliatory efforts in the party, he said: “We must be seen as a team and not as a group”.
He acknowledged that there was a crisis in the party, but, according to him, all the disputes will be settled. “We will not fire any shot but we will win the war,”
Anenih said, adding: “We will not recognise opposition within PDP. We will work together as a team so that by 2015 we will come here again to shake hands. We stand for unity and discipline. Nobody will be spared if he behaves out of indiscipline. We will do everything to bring everybody together.”
On the PDP dilemma, Anenih said that there is no human institution wherein disagreements don’t exist.
“What happened on that Saturday was a minor disagreement, in every society, there must be differences. There is no other party that can replace the PDP. It is only in the PDP they can grow, he said.
“For those who have issues, we thank the elders and governors who have been meeting and listening to them, we are committed to resolving our differences.”
“We will resolve all our differences. PDP is intact and will remain intact. We will do everything to make sure the party grows stronger. Without PDP, there is no democracy in Nigeria. We will make sure that the party remains one, those who left will rejoin us.
“Even ordinary Nigerians believe PDP must remain one because it is the only party that can continue to give leadership. Even those that are aggrieved call themselves the ‘new PDP’, meaning they know without PDP they are nothing.”
“It is only PDP that has not changed name or form. We will do our best to keep PDP one, to keep Nigeria one”.
He also said that the dinner was part of his promise to create more opportunities for periodic meetings and interaction among party members at all levels.
He assured the newly elected National Working Committee of the party of his support and urged them to work as a team.
While speaking at the event, Tukur laid emphasis on “the importance of party loyalty and discipline” and urged that dialogue and reconciliation should be encouraged.
“But our politics should be based on issues rather than personalities.
“We must learn to accept change in order to build on democratic principles. Our party cannot be relevant to the people only once in four years, when votes are needed, but at every time in order to improve their lot,” he advised.
However, the aggrieved governors as well as mediating elders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Military President Ibrahim Babangida were not at the dinner party which was gracefully attended by loyalists to the Tukur-led PDP faction Vice President Namadi Sambo also said that the PDP had always provided.
The dinner, which was earlier planned to hold promptly after the special convention, was postponed due to the unexpected actions of the aggrieved members splitting of the party who formed the parallel executives for the “new PDP”.
Others present include; Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Ramalan Yero (Kaduna),Theodore Orji (Abia), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Liyel Imoke (Cross Rivers) and Serieke Dickson (Bayelsa).
Also Idris Wada (Kogi), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), acting governor of Taraba State and deputy governors of Benue and Ebonyi states were in attendance as well as Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim, former Senate President Senator Ken Nnamani, Senator Barnabas Gemade and Ahmadu Ali.
While he highlighted the government’s achievements in sectors of the economy, the president stressed that the PDP is intact, and insisted that ongoing problems in the party was “a minor disagreement that would be resolved”.
Besides, Akwa Ibom State Governor and Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum Godswill Akpabio said: “We want Nigerians to challenge us on performance, not on the pages of newspapers. We want to assure you there is no faction in the PDP. What we are seeing today is just a storm in a tea cup.
“If you want to step out of the party you are free, this is the only party you can leave and return and become a national party chairman. The people are not with those who do not respect constituted authority. Those who do not respect authority will not get authority”, he stated.
Former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, noted that the party was going through a difficult time as he stressed that this period of claims and counter claims is no time to show weakness.
Various groups including, state party chairmen; women wing of the Tukur-led PDP faction; former office holders in the party declared their unwavering support for President Jonathan, and others toward the 2015 elections.
