The commitment of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in ensuring that the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan is a huge success is not in doubt, the Chairman of the party’s Governors Forum, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has said.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of a meeting Jonathan had with some state governors elected on the party’s platform, Akpabio said though he would not pre-empt the action of the governors on the President’s second term bid, vouched for their commitment and loyalty.
He said, “The PDP Governor’s Forum were present when the NASS Caucus (House of Representatives) 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”.
On the response of the President to the caucus endorsement Akpabio said, “He was obviously elated, he did not answer anything but as you know INEC has not given the time table for election yet, we are still waiting for INEC to release the guidelines, so Mr. President didn’t give anybody any answer, he did not say he would contest or he would not contest, but rather, he thanked them for the interest and confidence reposed in him. But I think from his body language, he is very mindful of the law and the need to wait fir guidelines from INEC that was what I noticed”.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor said the meeting was to appraise the earlier meeting with the House of Representatives as well as commend the President for a job well done in area of education despite the security challenges in some parts of the country.
He further stated that the meeting also discussed strategies ahead of the 2015 elections and how to increase the number of PDP governors to 28 across the country following the success of Ekiti election that was in favour of the party.
“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.
“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 tough times despite the distractions as a result of the insecurity situation in some parts of the country. Then after 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 gong 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, 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 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 deputy governors who are still with us. That of Sokoto, Adamawa and that also that of Nasarawa, that brings our number to about 22, so if we shoot to 28 it is not too bad in the 2015 elections. So it was an appraisal and for us to use that opportunity as PDP governors to congratulate the party leader on the very successful election that was held in Ekiti State which was very free and fair and applauded by the international community and all Nigerians to a point where even the candidate of the opposition announced that yes indeed this was a victory well deserved and there was no need to contest such a victory in court, that is the kind of thing we would like to see and Mr. President has entrenched true democracy in Nigeria and this has happened in Edo State, it has happened in Ondo State and it has happened now in Ekiti State, and it will happen in August in Osun State and for me as a Chairman of PDP Governors in Nigeria my hope and prayer is that God should increase our numbers and make us to have majority of governors in the country, because PDP is the only true national party in Nigeria.
“The hope of every Nigerian lies in the party and we commended Mr. President also for the strides he has made in governance particularly the educational sector, where he has built over 150 Almajiri schools and he is trying to tackle the insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria using education, and of course the first Nigerian President to establish up to 10 federal universities all at a go which is highly commendable and we don’t need to talk of the strides in the power sector and other areas. We believe that our performance will still endear us to Nigerians and that is what we looking forward to. Politics is all about democracy dividends, not about propaganda, so those who want to do propaganda can do so, but our meeting was to strategise on how best we can best serve the Nigerian people so that the populace will continue to love the PDP and vote for us come 2015,” he said.
