President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed
that the Peoples Democratic Party will capture the entire South-East
region in the 2015 governorship election.
The President, who spoke at the Unity
Rally organised to reconcile aggrieved party members in the zone on
Friday, said come what may, the PDP would capture Imo State in 2015 and
complete the circle in the South-East. Continue..
The President spoke shortly after some
of the security personnel drafted to provide security at the venue of
the rally in Enugu on Friday exchanged blows.
The exchange of blows, which involved
members of the
Nigeria Police and officials of the Nigerian Security and
Civil Defence Corps, was as a result of complaints of alleged
harassment of policemen drafted to the rally venue by the members of the
civil defence corps.
Saturday Punch learnt that it
took the intervention of members of other security agencies like the
State Security Service, Army and the Federal Road Safety Corps, to
prevent the police and NSCDC fight from escalating.
The President, who said the PDP would clear the seats totally, explained that the party had been magnanimous enough.
He said, “In the South-East, the PDP is
total. Every state has a maximum of three senators and a minimum of
three senators. It is now clear the South-East is a PDP zone.”
Though the President refrained from
mentioning the name of the All Progressives Congress, he took a swipe at
the opposition party, describing it as nothing near progressive. He
said the PDP was more democratic than other political parties in
Nigeria.
He said, “One party tags themselves as
progressives but where are they progressing to. It is only in such
progressive party that you find an ex-governor determining who gets what
and how.”
He asked, “Is that what you mean by progressives?
“We are not like one party in this country where one man or a group of people determines how the party is run.
“The national chairman of the PDP or any
of its governors can’t cancel a ward congress of the party just like
that and with impunity. I as the President don’t even have the powers to
do so, but it is happening in a political party in this country.”
He said the PDP was more democratic
because it would not cancel ward congresses across the states without
considering the wish of its members, adding that it was not like some
other party where a local government chairman can cancel a ward congress
for no justifiable reason and without the people’s opinion.
President Jonathan said the PDP is the
only political platform in Nigeria where the voice of the people could
count and decisions are taken based on the majority and popular vote.
The President, therefore, urged the Igbo people to support the PDP, saying, “The PDP would not disappoint you.”
He said the PDP is the only democratic party that could take Nigeria to join the rest of the democratic world.
“It is the only party where the
President would not impose a candidate. It is the only party where
people like me from a non-privileged background can stand here and
talk,” he said.
But in a swift reaction, the All
Progressives Congress on Friday said President Jonathan had lost the
moral authority to lead the nation by violating all electoral laws and
campaigning ahead of time.
Interim National Publicity Secretary of
the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in response to a declaration
by the President that the APC lacked internal democracy.
Mohammed said “When a President who is
the number one citizen violates all electoral rules by campaigning well
ahead of time, that President has lost the moral authority to lead a
country.
“It is sad that the President cannot speak about issues but personalities.
“We would have been interested if he
talks about the jobs he has created, how many roads he has built, how he
is tackling health care and the insecurity in the nation and above all,
how he is tackling corruption.
“He is doing none of these, we are not surprised because no one can rise above his capacity.”
On his part, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, called on the Ndigbo to remain committed to the party.
Mu’azu said that the recent spate of defections to the PDP was only a sign of the good things to come to the party.
He said, “As we continue to welcome our
old members back to the party, we are equally working towards a true and
sincere reconciliation where everyone would be accommodated.”
The PDP national chairman added that once true reconciliation is achieved, “no other party shall defeat the PDP ever again.”
Mu’azu used the occasion to welcome back Ezenwa Onyebuchi, a member of the House of Representatives, to the party.
He said, “Onyebuchi is returning to PDP
because he has seen light at the beginning of the dark tunnel and not at
the end of the dark tunnel.”Onyebuchi defected to the APC some months
ago.
The Senate President, David Mark,
however, urged the President to ignore criticisms of his government and
remain focus in the transformation programme of his government.
Mark appealed to the President not to be distracted by criticisms, as they would only make him better.
“If we don’t criticise you, who will?” he asked.
Meanwhile, there was also exchange of blows between over 500 supporters of Orji Uzor Kalu and police officers on Friday.
The incident occurred during the
South-East PDP rally held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, in Enugu. The
rally was tagged “Unity Rally.”
Kalu is a former governor of Abia State and his return to the PDP has remained contentious.
The fight started when the police
refused the former governor’s supporters from gaining entry into the
stadium. Kalu’s supporters were tagged supporters of the All
Progressives Congress by security agents and therefore, they were
stopped from gaining entry into the venue of the PDP rally.
Kalu’s supporters left the scene after
soldiers joined the police officers to resist their entry into the venue
of the rally. They returned two hours later after they had pulled off
their green branded t-shirts that bore the name of their principal –
Orji Uzor Kalu. This time now, the police officers, fewer in number,
couldn’t recognise them.
Two police officers told our
correspondent that they were only acting on orders from the current Abia
State Governor, Mr. Theodore Orji, not to allow Kalu’s boys into the
venue. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We were also given orders by some
unknown persons not to allow supporters of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani into
the place should they come close,” said one of the police officers.
The current Abia State governor was
Chief of Staff to Kalu when he was governor, but the two fell apart
shortly after the former took over as governor. Since then, the
successor has always engaged his predecessor in a battle for supremacy
in the state.
Though Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu
State was commissioner for Justice when Dr. Nnamani was governor, the
two also went their separate ways months after Chime was sworn in.
Despite Nnamani’s recent return to the PDP, Chime’s camp has repeatedly disputed that.
Meanwhile, the hostility between Chime
and the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, continued at the rally.
Chime failed to recognise Ekweremadu while observing the protocols that
preceded his speech.
A day before the rally, some armed men
were said to have invaded the Enugu residence of the former PDP
Chairman in Udi Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Uche Ogbodo.
The armed men took away both the PDP bus in his custody and his private car.
Sources close to the former chairman and
known supporters of Ekweremadu said the incident took place shortly
after he (Ogbodo) came back from the court.
They stated that the hoodlums, about 10
in number, gained entry into the compound and made frantic efforts to
enter the residence but were hindered by the iron grids on the door.
Source Punchng
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