Chairman, Board of Trustees of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, on Sunday night expressed
his fear of the opposition parties’ merger before chiefs of the ruling
party.
Anenih told the governors, federal
lawmakers and state chairmen of the PDP from the South-South
geo-political zone, in Asaba, Delta State, that the opposition political
parties congregating under the All Progressives Congress banner might
be a threat to the PDP hegemony.
“We must not live under the illusion
that our party is invulnerable. Although, the existing opposition
parties are still too small, fragile and sectional, we must not ignore
the possibility that a merger of these parties may constitute a threat
to our current dominance of the political terrain,” Anenih told his
party men.
The APC, an initiative of the Action
Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria
Peoples Party and a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, has
the avowed mission to dislodge the PDP from power come 2015.
Before now, Chairman of the PDP, Bamanga
Tukur, had derided the merger, saying selfish ambition would create
division among the merging parties.
The PDP BoT chairman also said that the
opposition parties had hijacked the Nigerian Governors’ Forum hence the
need for party members to rally round the PDP governors’ forum chaired
by the Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio.
He told the gathering, “We must not
labour under the illusion that we can be spectators in the bold and
necessary drama of national reconstruction, or, worse still, align with
those who seek power for its own sake rather than for the good of our
people.
“We, therefore, have a strategic
obligation to put our house in order so as to sustain the peace which we
have enjoyed in the last 14 years.
“We must always be conscious that if the
PDP becomes fragmented as a result of the inordinate ambitions of a few
members, our country, our democracy and our people will suffer.
“We must, therefore, subsume our ambitions under the greater good of our party and our country.
“The proposed merger of four political
parties under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
appears to be a house built on sand, which is likely to collapse with
the first rain. Speaking seriously, however, we cannot afford to be
complacent. We must expect any eventualities and prepare to overcome
them.”
He deplored the activities of the
Nigerian Governors’ Forum which he said had portrayed itself as an
anti-Federal Government lobby group.
This, he said, was “in contradistinction
to its avowed mission statement of ‘providing a common platform for
synergy, collaboration among interests’ or serving as a bi-partisan
lobby group which fosters, promotes and sustains democratic ethos, good
governance in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.”
He said, “Indeed, the general perception
is that the NGF has become a formidable group of power wielders,
seeking to control governments at all levels, including the Federal
Government.
“What is now beyond doubt is that the
NGF has been hijacked by opposition governors and is no longer promoting
the interest of the PDP.
“It is for this reason that I fully endorse the formation of the PDP Governors Forum.”
The BoT chairman also drew attention to
what he said was “a well-oiled wheel of insidious media propaganda which
has been tirelessly churning out sinister information about the
Jonathan Administration for the purpose of destabilising (and eventually
replacing) his government.
“Unfortunately, some of these political
enemies have PDP members as accomplices. What the anti-Jonathan forces
are doing is to create tension in a desperate bid to unsettle and
disrupt the administration.”
Anenih equally proposed what he said was a rancour-free system of presidential and governorship nominations.
He said, “Our party primaries have, over the years, been the most serious sources of rancour and disunity in our ranks.
“Almost two years are devoted to
pre-election processes for political offices and another two in managing
post-primaries/election bitterness and disunity.
“More pernicious is the fact that we
invest so much resources and energy fighting ourselves in the primaries
that should have gone into the larger battle against our political
rivals.
“We cannot continue this tradition of
internal warfare. We must not live under the illusion that we can fight
ourselves to the finish and hope that we can continue to have enough
energy left to win elections.”
He added, “We must (therefore) evolve a
new system of selecting our flag-bearers at the presidential and
governorship levels that would preserve our unity and reserve our energy
and resources for the greater battle for political power.
“We must seriously consider this in order to avoid frictions and acrimony in the overall interest of our party and the nation.”
He said at the meeting that the
persistent negative profiling of the administration of Jonathan had been
a major issue which had been of concern to him.
Anenih noted that “it is true that some
governors have complaints against the leadership of the party; however,
such complaints are not sufficient to warrant any rebellion as
speculated.
“There have also been some complaints
against the governors. In any case, the problems raised are not
insurmountable as, indeed, they are already being addressed by the
leadership of the party.”
He appealed to the party leaders in the zone not to lose sight of those challenges.
He accused the opposition of being
behind widespread rumours such as, the Presidency using EFCC to harass
governors who refuse to support Jonathan’s alleged interest in
contesting for the Presidency in 2015; alleged massive acts of
corruption against certain government functionaries; plans by some PDP
governors to defect to opposition parties; and death or hospitalisation
of public officials, including governors, among others.
Meanwhile, some governors from the
South-South and South-East geo-political zones at a meeting in Asaba on
Sunday expressed confidence in the President and commended efforts by
his administration to combat insecurity and other challenges confronting
the country.
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Just hear the contradicting load of rubbish. Pdp is really finished. It is now a drowning man hanging unto a tree branch....
ReplyDeletePerson or ghost? PDP talisman.
ReplyDelete