President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who lost at the primaries, including the former information minister, Labaran Maku to remain in the party in the interest of democracy. This is even as Maku is set to defect to Labour Party (LP) to contest Nasarawa state governorship election in 2015.President Jonathan who made the appeal at the PDP fund raising dinner held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja said that the leadership of the party is 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.”
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.
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.
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.
Maku’s bid to become Nasarawa governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was dashed when he lost the party’s primaries to Yusuf Agabi, who polled 214 votes to the ex-minister’s 160. Maku has since rejected the result of the primary alleging irregularities.
However, rather than remain within his party to either support the winner or challenge the primary in court, Maku is working with some leaders of the Labour Party to become the party’s candidate. A major hindrance to the ex-minister’s plans, however, is the firm stance of Innocent Lagi to retain his candidacy of the Labour Party
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