President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to aspirants of
the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who lost at the
primaries to remain in party in the interest of democracy.
Mr. Jonathan made the appeal on Saturday night while
speaking at the PDP fund raising dinner held at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that the leadership of the party was working to
resolve all outstanding issues in the congresses and
primaries.
“We all appreciate that throughout the congresses where
primary elections were conducted there have been some
outstanding issues.
“The party is working to resolve these issues; definitely, in
such situation all may not be resolved to the satisfaction of
everybody,” the president said.
“But my plea to party members is to remain committed to
the party; stay with the party.
“I know other parties are wooing some of you to contest
elections on their platforms, but if you believe in
democracy then you will contribute to strengthen it.
“The only way you can strengthen democracy is for you to
stay in your party,” he added.
Some prominent leaders of the party have either left,
expressed intention to leave, or expressed their
dissatisfaction at the manner of conduct of primaries in
their states.
In Benue, a former PDP National Chairman, Bernabas
Gemade, has already joined the All Progressives Congress,
APC, after expressing anger at how Governor Gabriel
Suswam picked the PDP senatorial ticket of his zone to
displace the former who is the incumbent. Mr. Gemade is
expected to be the APC candidate in the zone.
In Oyo, former governor Alao Akala and his supporters
have joined the Labour Party after expressing their
dissatisfaction at the PDP governorship primaries that
produced Teslim Folarin as candidate.
In Lagos, the immediate past Minister of State for Defence,
Musiliu Obanikoro, has rejected the primaries that
produced Jimi Agbaje as the PDP governorship candidate. A
similar situation is playing out in Nasarawa where
immediate past Information Minister, Labaran Maku, has
rejected the PDP governorship primaries.
Mr. Jonathan, however, told the aggrieved members that if
there were issues they felt were not too correct, it was
better for them to stay within the party to correct them.
He added that staying together to settle those issues was
the only way democracy can grow.
“If out of anger or frustration, you leave the party because
you didn’t get what you wanted, then you are not
contributing to the growth of democracy,” he said.
Mr. Jonathan thanked members of the party, the business
community and other supporters of the PDP for
contributing to the growth of the party.
While recalling the “generous donation” of the business
community to support victims of the 2012 flood and to the
Victim Support Fund in September, he assured them that
their donations would be judiciously utilised.
The president also assured the business community of
more policies and programmes that would promote
enterprise and industry as well as expand the economy.
Citing a beneficiary of the YouWin programme, who
donated N1 million at the dinner, the president stated that
the party had made some Nigerians millionaires and
billionaires.
He said the PDP-led federal government was working hard
to make more young millionaires through the YouWin
programme and the recently launched Youth Employment
through Agriculture Programme (YEAP).
He assured Nigerians that the PDP would do everything
possible to keep the country united.
Earlier, the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu,
congratulated successful candidates of the party for the
2015 general elections and urged them not to let the party
down.
He urged the candidates to carry their fellow party
members along during the campaigns. He appealed to
aspirants who lost at the primaries to put the past behind
and join hands to take the PDP to victory.
The chairman of the fund raising committee, Jerry Gana,
warned members of the party against complacency in the
2015 general elections.
Mr. Gana, a former Minister of Information and member of
the PDP Board of Trustees, declared that the 2015 elections
would be competitive.
He stated that though the party had done well under
President Goodluck Jonathan, members must campaign and
communicate his achievements to the electorate.
“The 2015 elections will be very competitive. Do not take it
for granted. We must never underestimate the opponent,”
Mr. Gana said.
“PDP has advantage because it has done very well in its 15
years in power at the centre.
“Besides, our presidential candidate is very good and is one
of the best in the world in terms of delivery of democracy
dividends.
“But doing well or having good candidates is not enough;
we need to tell the electorate what we have done as a
party.
“We must endeavour to effectively communicate our
achievements and candidates to the people; the elections
must be issue-based and the PDP is noted for that,” he
added.
Mr. Gana warned the leadership of the PDP at all levels
against imposition of candidates on Nigerians.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that over N21.2 billion
was raised at the dinner which was well attended by past
and present government officials, politicians and captains
of industry.
The fund, according to the PDP National Chairman, Adamu
Mu’azu, would be used to complete the party’s new
headquarters building and run its affairs.

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we shall see