Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said his priority now is to ensure that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regains the presidency in 2019.
Speaking during a courtesy call on him by Chief Olabode George and his campaign team in his country home in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, on Tuesday, Jonathan took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the 2015 election and noted that it was also his responsibility to ensure the party rises, again, as a strong political platform to win the next elections.
He said: “Whether I like it or not, I must take responsibility for the defeat because I led the party to the election. The only thing that will make me sleep well is to ensure that PDP comes back to power.” The former president said he is working with other stakeholders to ensure that the party is well organised, to achieve this purpose, although he prefers to work from the back seat.
Jonathan said the party must begin to take the right steps, in the right direction, to regain the confidence of the electorate and ensure mistakes of the past were not be repeated
Speaking earlier, George, a former PDP deputy national chairman, who is currently on a nationwide campaign for the chairmanship election in December, congratulated Jonathan on his 60th birthday anniversary and urged him, as the leader of the party, to ensure that the party will emerge stronger from the forthcoming national convention. George, however, told the former president that failure to apply the micro zoning principle to the chairmanship position this time around had caused ripples capable of dividing the party.
He lamented that the party appeared to be drifting as there was no reasonable justification offered by the Senator Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee for jettisoning the principle which was applied to all previous elections to the position.
