PDP plots last minute strategy

Monday, 28 March 2011 00:44 Suleiman M. Bisalla & Muideen Olaniyi


President Goodluck Jonathan met at the weekend with the governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and top members of his campaign council where they reviewed their options and planned key strategies ahead of next month’s general elections.


The meeting which took place at the presidential villa in Abuja on Friday ended at about 12 midnight and was said to have reviewed the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) plans for the elections and the challenges posed by the opposition before and during the elections.


A source at the meeting told Daily Trust that top leaders and ‘fixers’ within the party said that they were not comfortable with INEC and many of the measures being adopted by the electoral body.

The source said the meeting resolved that PDP “must win” the election, a challenge which President Jonathan allegedly emphasised to the meeting.

Part of the plan agreed, said the source, was to ensure that the governors get adequate funds ahead of the elections. The president was said to have agreed to disburse what is left of the excess crude account this week.

It would be recalled that over N1 billion from the account was disbursed before the primary elections of the various political parties, leaving N300 million dollars in the account.

Due to what is seen to be the fire walls built around INEC, Daily Trust learnt, the meeting considered other options, especially when some governors raised alarm over what they called the use of violence by opposition parties to intimidate PDP.

One governor from the Northeast zone was said to have complained that the opposition “knows that they are going to lose the election so they are resorting to violence” while another from North-central advised that it would not be in the party’s interest to spare trouble shooters.

Following this and the INEC challenge, the PDP leaders reportedly decided to focus their attention on security which is within the purview of the presidency. They planned on how to utilise that to enhance their electoral success.

“INEC rules will be respected,” Daily Trust source said, explaining, however, that armed policemen have to be deployed some meters away from the polling units as that will be normal police duty. But the source said the police may eventually be useful.

INEC’s guidelines have prohibited unaccredited policemen, including those attached to governors and other top government functionaries, from coming near polling units.

It would also be recalled that the PDP only reluctantly signed INEC’s code of conduct which the other political parties participating in the election signed a fortnight ago.

When contacted yesterday for comments over the president’s Friday meeting with the PDP governors, the PDP National Publicity Secretary Professor Rufa’i Ahmed Alkali neither confirmed nor denied the conduct of the meeting.

He however explained that the party could not be expected to be revealing its strategies ahead of next month’s elections considering the activities of the party’s “desperate opponents”.

He said: “I want to remind you that the general election is around the corner and PDP is a major stakeholder in the forthcoming election. You should remember also that we have opponents who are desperate. I do not think it is tactically correct for us to be making noise about our plan for election. If there is any need for us to speak, we shall speak at the appropriate time”.

http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14947:pdp-plots-last-minute-strategy&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

The president
was said to have agreed to disburse what is
left of the excess crude account this week.

the way things are going won't we hit our own economic crisis just after election? Hope MEND and other militants don't plan on reducing our oil output again.