The Professor Jerry Gana-led Strategy Review and Inter Party Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday met separately with former President Goodluck Jonathan and the former Chairman of the Party, Dr Bamanga Tukur to Chart a new course for the party.
The meetings were held behind closed doors with members of the committee visiting former President Jonathan at his Maitama residence before proceeding to meet with Bamanga Tukur.
Speaking during one of the meeting Jonathan said.
‘Losing the presidency is something temporary. We should be able to get that position back as long as we are able to get our acts together.
‘I am happy that you people are working towards that.”
He said he had the strong belief that for a nation to grow, its institutions must be very strong.
Making reference to the court’s rejection of President Donald Trump’s executive order, Jonathan said such a measure is needed in Nigeria at the moment.
‘There is no way a nation will grow with weak institutions, because everything about politics is about the people, not about the individuals,” he said.
‘As long you are interested in the people, you are interested in the growth of the society and the development of the nation.
The only thing that will make this possible is that the institutions must be strong.
“As powerful as America is, President Donald Trump took a decision and the court said `No you can’t do this’ and of course, they have to shut down the decision to move forward.
That is the strength of an institution. That is the only way individuals could be regulated so that you can grow.”
The former president also said direct primary, especially under presidential system of government, was the ultimate and best way of selecting candidates for elections.
The best way to stop imposition is to make sure that people don’t control the delegates,” he said.
How to select delegate is that at least 70 percent of the delegates should not be under the control of anybody.”
All these group of people if they are still in the party should be automatic delegates,” he said.
These are people that are known by everybody and nobody can go and manipulate them or their names.
By the time we have a reasonable number of statutory delegates who are more than 75 per cent of total delegates that will vote, then, it will be difficult for somebody to go and manipulate the list.
This is the only way to strengthen political parties. It is a clear sign that PDP will win in 2019,” he said. Vanguard.
