PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday told chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party that democracy would have collapsed in the country without their party.

Jonathan also assured the PDP leaders that he would soon direct key government ministries and security apparatus to brief them, beginning with the National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

The President at the PDP 60th National Executive Commiittee meeting in Abuja said, “People who want to drown us know that without PDP, probably, the republic would have collapsed.”

The PDP NEC held barely 72 hours after the party’s candidate lost by a wide margin in the Edo State governorship poll.

Drawing inference from the collapse of the First and Second republics, Jonathan said but for the tolerance of the ruling party, the current democratic dispensation would have come to an end.

He said the intention of the opposition was to drown the PDP by painting it as a bad party. Jonathan accused the opposition of adopting ‘philosophy’ of “when you say the wrong thing one thousand times, it becomes the right thing.”

He attributed the ‘philosophy’ to Adolf Hitler. However the President must have a quote widely attributed to Joseph Goebbels in mind.

Goebbels reportedly said, “If you tell a big lie enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

He said, “We witnessed what happened in the First Republic. Because we witnessed what happened in the first republic and we know the circumstances that led to the collapse of the First Republic and Second Republic.

“We know what is happening in other African countries. If the ruling party over-intimidates and over-imposes, using the weight of the Federal Government and the citizens revolt, it weakens the political system and creates confusion and instability.”

He said that though the PDP controls the Federal Government, it operates a system that allows the opposition to fly higher than the ruling party.

“They abuse us more, but we allow it. And it is the PDP that is handling the affairs of the country, that is stabilising the democracy in the country,” he added.

Jonathan told the PDP NEC members that the activities of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, had forced his government to re-prioritise, saying he had changed focus to tackling security challenges instead of employment and the provision of electricity.

The President said, “During campaign, our emphasis was more on job creation, power but now what worries us most is security. This is because you must be alive before you will eat food.

“So, if you are not safe, you can’t even think of hunger because a dead person does not need food. So, security is very, very fundamental.”

He said that events of the past weeks indicated that the activities of Boko Haram had been curtailed, adding that the killings last week in Plateau State had nothing to do with the sect.

He said, “If you look at this issue of Boko Haram, for the past three weeks, except the incident in Plateau State, which of course is unfortunate but had nothing to do with Boko Haram, we will continue to work with Governor Jonah Jang and other leaders from the state to make sure that we resolve the crisis in Plateau State. That had nothing to do with Boko Haram.

“But outside that, we would see that there are some trends, there is some hope and God willing, the issue of Boko Haram will also come down.”

On the economy, he said his government was taking a number of measures in areas like Agriculture and Water Resources, adding that reforms were also being worked on in the petroleum sector.

He said he would start the briefing of the PDP NEC members at their next meeting with Dasuki.

He said, “From time to time, I will call some of the ministers to make presentations to NEC. We will start with the National Security Adviser in the next NEC meeting. The NEC people will have the opportunity to ask questions.

“So, I believe that what we need to is that from time to time, any NEC meeting we have I can call on some ministers manning key ministries to brief us.”

He also promised to come to the next NEC meeting with his formal statement on what “we intend to do and the vision of government.”

Earlier, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, had outlined his vision for the party in his opening remarks.

He said the party must inculcate the acceptance of ideological norms to change the people’s perception about democracy.

The meeting was attended by 16 governors. But the two ex-chairmen of the party’s Board of Trustees, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Tony Anenih, were absent from the meeting.

http://www.punchng.com/news/without-pdp-democracy-will-collapse-jonathan/

Without GEJ, nigeria would collapse....! Choi, this mandon spend too much time in fools paradise.... In other words we would have to vote him again in 2015, to come and face electricity, for now, abeg, he's busy with security...

This GEJ am now convinced has cassava brain. Must he always be coached by patience before every public speech?

God chosen for Nigeria now. You dont question God's wisdom.

"Without fuel subsidy removal, Nigeria will collapse". What a thoroughly dishonest man.

FisherMan with Fish Brain now adding Cassava particles into his brain and that man is Retardeen Odechukwu Cassa!

Na wa o, should PDP lose the presidency. They will never recover.

This is something, you'll never hear an American leader say. Only in the backwaters of Nigeria will this sort of thing proceed from the mouth of a leader.

DIS GEJ, WERIN DE DO U SEF?? ALWAYS EXHIBITING WOR UR NAME STANDS FOR, I.E RETARDEENHO
WTF IS PDP 2 DIS COUNTRY? IF NOT A GATHERIN OF MISCRANTS, N BUNCH OF ROGUES N THIEVES

Clerverly: FisherMan with Fish Brain now adding Cassava particles into his brain and that man is Retardeen Odechukwu Cassa!

lol

I AM TIRED OF GEJ.
GEJ should go. He is proving important than what he ought to be.

I think he meant to say 'with PDP,democracy in Nigeria has collapsed,an utter debacle'

JST PDP'S PUPPET.........FACEPALM FOR RETARDINHO

y'all try n google RETARDEEN n u'll see its now officially GEJ's name

once a Retardo is always Retardo

Clerverly: FisherMan with Fish Brain now adding Cassava particles into his brain and that man is Retardeen Odechukwu Cassa!

Lmao

"Without PDP democracy will collapse" . . . . Lol
One thing i can guaranty is, without PDP dividends of democracy won't be a mirage for Nigerians. They loot us dry and claim to be doing us a great favour.

aam more scared of ACN and any other party dat has not tasted power cof if they eventually do, d last state of Nigeria will be worst than d former. d devil dey say u knw is beta dan d angel u dnt knw. if only PDP can be responsible!

afam4eva: This is something, you'll never hear an American leader say. Only in the backwaters of Nigeria will this sort of thing proceed from the mouth of a leader.

To be honest, anything should be expected from this train wreck from now henceforth. If a President can say petulantly and irresponsibly that he "does not give a damn" , regarding setting moral examples as the number 1 citizens Nigerians all look up to, does that not show he is highly unfit for office?

I see some of you here are foolish
So he should say without A.CN or CPC abi?
This man was brought there by that party and he needs to register is loyalty to the party being the biggest political party in africa. Please grow up,by the way I have confidence in GEJ as a pure democrat and nt the party and there is nothing really wrong in the statement he made.

Does this explain why past PDP Governors who embezzled state funds are still walking free?


Someone is definitely controlling this foo.

Ileke-IdI:
Does this explain why past PDP Governors who embezzled state funds are still walking free?


Someone is definitely controlling this foo.

You see hw senseless you are now?
Tinubu that almost bankrupt lagos is pdp abi??
Mumu

GEJ still has 3yrs to deliver lets wait and see.
The people are watching and believe it or not the people has started taking cognisance of their voting power.
Come 2015 the people will look back and access him themselves.

ifihearam:

You see hw senseless you are now?
Tinubu that almost bankrupt lagos is pdp abi??
Mumu

What has Tinubu got to do with my post?
If Tinubu is guilty, why has your president let him off the hook? More reason why you should be weary of that cowboy.

Gbawe:

To be honest, anything should be expected from this train wreck from now henceforth. If a President can say petulantly and irresponsibly that he "does not give a damn" , regarding setting moral examples as the number 1 citizens Nigerians all look up to, does that not show he is highly unfit for office?

You are one of the most dullest pple I knw here on nl.I doubt you can even control your home with ur never ending negative comments. Pple like you are regarded as wives in their homes. Trust me I knw one wen I see one

ifihearam:
You are one of the most dullest pple I knw here on nl.I doubt you can even control your home with ur never ending negative comments. Pple like you are regarded as wives in their homes. Trust me I knw one wen I see one

You're so smart that you only discuss people and not the topic at hand.
Another GEJ propagandist. . . .use common sense, at least.
Work hard for your pay.

afam4eva: This is something, you'll never hear an American leader say. Only in the backwaters of Nigeria will this sort of thing proceed from the mouth of a leader.

stop comparing america to Nigeria at every turn.
America's democracy is more older and advanced than that of Nigeria.
And in a way,the president is right.

That is true.

CHIDI EJIOGU: GEJ still has 3yrs to deliver lets wait and see.
The people are watching and believe it or not the people has started taking cognisance of their voting power.
Come 2015 the people will look back and access him themselves.

This is the best comment I have ever read since this month. Thank God we still have reasonable people here *sigh of relief*

wetin president jonathan smoke this morning?

solomon111: stop comparing america to Nigeria at every turn.
America's democracy is more older and advanced than that of Nigeria.
And in a way,the president is right.

Thank you sir

PDP = Power2dPeople!; The most populous party in Africa, the Assembly of Best Brains, The Party with Nationalistic view. PDP is the greatest thing to happen to Nigeria. The opposition parties are just regional militia driven by fraudulent godfathers, but PDP, is for the people. We rule, while others follow.

jenny b: aam more scared of ACN and any other party dat has not tasted power cof if they eventually do, d last state of Nigeria will be worst than d former. d devil dey say u knw is beta dan d angel u dnt knw. if only PDP can be responsible!

Ol boy, go look fo di difrens btw Angel and Devil. Tru tru Angel neva Semble Devil. Ask ur SPiritual leader not dictionaery. 13 yrs now we still de expect? We better see di devil if PDP really na Angel!