Governors and House of Representatives members elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday resolved to field President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s presidential flag-bearer in the 2015 general elections, thus endorsing him for a second term.
Also, the party is strategising to win governorship seats in at least 28 states of the federation in 2015.
This formed the highpoint of the meeting between President Jonathan, PDP governors and members the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) which lasted from Monday night till the wee hours of yesterday morning.
Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who is Chairman of PDP Governor’s Forum, briefed State House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting.
He explained that the governors were loyal and committed "to the success of Mr. President come 2015".
This was even as the caucus of the House of Representatives had earlier on Monday night endorsed the President and urged him to contest for the second term.
Akpabio recalled that the successes so far achieved by the President made him most qualified to contest for a second term.
President Jonathan was mindful of the provisions of the Electoral Act, however, and thus did not either accept or refuse to contest in order not to contravene the Act as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not released programmes for 2015, Akpabio disclosed.
According to him: "We did an appraisal of the meeting that we held with the caucus of the House of Representatives, and it was a fantastic meeting."
“And I think it is something that should be done regularly with the party leader, the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) at the national level in attendance together with the governors."
"Of course, you are aware that the NASS caucus met earlier in the day and passed a vote of confidence on Mr. President, the Vice President and the national leadership of the party and in turn, they also urged Mr. President to step forward and contest for the 2015 presidential election. In other words, they are urging him to go forward and re-contest for a second term in office."
"The PDP Governor’s Forum was present when the NASS Caucus did what they did, I do not want to pre-empt the action of PDP governors, but I can attest to their loyalty and their commitment to the success of Mr. President come 2015."
He declared that the governors were witnesses to the NASS caucus adoption of Jonathan as the party’s presidential flag bearer, in 2015.
He said: "We were witnesses when that resolution was taken and, of course, they also pledged their unflinching support to the leadership of Mr. President and then congratulated him for being able to pass through trying times despite the distractions as a result of the insecurity situation in some parts of the country."
"Thereafter, we moved into a further meeting with Mr. President and all the PDP governors and members of the NWC led by the National Chairman of the party, based on the fact that in the next few months we shall be going into major primaries."
"So, we want to deepen internal democracy and want to strategise on how best we can win the primaries and by implication also ensure that we bring out the best candidates."
Akpabio added that the meeting was essential as part of strategies to ensure that popular candidates were presented to voters by the party, taking a cue from the Ekiti State governorship election.
According to him: "Taking a cue from what had happened in Ekiti, that if we are able to carry out proper internal democracy and bring out the most popular candidates, then the main election will be less rancorous."
"And of course, the party will sail through with a view to getting up two-thirds of the states of the federation as it was when we started in 1999."
"When I came in, there was a period that PDP had up to 29 governors. In 2011, we still had up to 25 governors and then of course some governors tried to decamp to other political parties which they are at liberty to do, because this is democracy."
“But we are gaining more. Now, we have at least 19 governors with the coming of Ekiti State and we also have three"
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