April Polls: President Jonathan Should Not Abandon PDP Governors by Obinna Akukwe @ObinnaAkukwe
Reports reaching me from various camps of PDP candidates for Saturday’s governorship elections shows that President Goodluck Jonathan has abandoned his party men to their fate , following his shocking defeat in March 28th presidential polls. Some PDP leaders and candidates have told me that Jonathan had left them to their fate and they are considering further mass defections, if their efforts to secure victory in Saturday’s governorship polls fails. From Lagos to Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Jigawa and Sokoto, the story is the same. The complaints of party men is that Jonathan had not deployed enough logistics to help secure a victory for the PDP in the forthcoming polls. There is also another complain that Jonathan had not called many of the aspirants to know the extent of their preparations. This is not good for democracy.
Goodluck Jonathan should not despair beyond measure over his failure at the polls. At least he got more glory in defeat than the five years he assembled and surrounded himself with some praise singers, sycophants and looters masquerading as aides, friends, relations and cronies. Jonathan had also lost over N1 trillion naira between February 14th and March 28th when he deployed lots of state and privately stashed resources to rescue his sinking presidency.
He should take solace that he did not make the mistakes of Babangida, also the entire nation is celebrating him even in defeat. Therefore, it is time for him to ginger up his party men, stem the gale of defections, and ensure that they are given enough support for Saturday’s polls. This support should not include rigging of elections and harassment of voters.
It is unfortunate that even the PDP National Chairman Adamu Muazu have not deemed it fit to call a properly constituted NEC meeting where the party should energize themselves for the polls. This is happening to Jonathan because he has nobody in that party that can rally people round at this point in their evolution process.
After the PDP defeated the then APP in 1999, and Obasano formed a Government of National Unity, the National Chairman of All Peoples Party, Mahmud Waziri, who has eleven governors under him, stupidly resigned to take up the post of a Minister of Inter Party Affairs. Years later when Don Etiebet became APP Chairman, he was more interested in working for the PDP than building his party.
In contrast Bola Tinubu re- built Alliance for Democracy (AD), after his fellow governors were deceived by Obasanjo and rigged out in the South West. He formed Action Congress (AC) which later became ACN as governor when AD was infiltrated by the ruling party. He singlehandedly built ACN from a party in charge of Lagos State to one in charge of seven States. Buhari abandoned the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and formed his own Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2010 and the alliance of Tinubu and Buhari between 2013 and 2014 was the beginning of the fall of the ruling PDP .
It is highly irresponsible for Jonathan’s party chieftains, including Buruji Kashamu, Tony Anenih, Adamu Muazu, Bode George, Edwin Clarke to despair and abandon the party to her fate.
Apart from Jigawa State where Governor Sule Lamido is trying to install a successor at all costs, Akwa Ibom State where Governor Akpabio, is putting in all efforts to ensure victory for PDP, Kaduna State where Vice President Sambo is deploying all arsenals to ensure that Governor Yero is not disgraced, and Sokoto State where former governor Bafarawa and current NSA Sambo Dasuki are working tirelessly to ensure that Senator Wali defeats Tambuwal, and Enugu State where the opposition has no chance against Uguanyi, the rest of the states have been abandoned to the APC. In Lagos State, Timi Agbaje is not getting enough boost to make the election victorious for him. This is irresponsible from a ruling party. It shows that PDP is just an assemblage of charlatans and fair weather men who cannot stand for anything when the chips are down,
Since 2003, I have always supported a Buhari Presidency because I believe that corruption is Nigeria’s greatest problem. I have also known that this theory of his Islamizing Nigeria is a grand lie which originated under Obasanjo in 2003 and elevated to the highest height in the just concluded presidential poll. This does not mean that the ruling party should not show character in the remaining election and secure significant victories.
I advise President Jonathan, Party Leader Muazu, Bot Chairman Anenih and all the big wigs in PDP to rally round for a final fight because to the best of my knowledge, their mass defections to APC will not stop them from the judgments that is coming. This support should not include rigging and harassment of voters using the armed forces. Let Jonathan not abandon his party men, at least they worked for him, though the Nigerian people thought otherwise.
Obinna Akukwe
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