No power can stop PDP victory in 2011, says Jonathan

Fashola tasks AC on nation's leadership
Nwabueze opposes INEC for states' elections
From John-Abba Ogbodo (Abuja) and Abiodun Fanoro (Lagos)


FROM Vice President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday came a declaration that reiterated the resolve of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to remain in power in the country when he boasted that no matter who conducted it, his party will win the 2011 presidential election.


http://odili.net/news/source/2009/dec/11/35.html

Essentially, Jonathan said that if presidential election is conducted hundred times in the country, even by angels from heaven, PDP will win.

The Vice President spoke as the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), admonished his party, the Action Congress (AC), to rise to the urgent challenges of providing responsive and caring leadership for the people of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the constitutional lawyer and chairman of The Patriots, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, has urged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be stripped of powers to conduct governorship and Houses of Assembly elections in the states.

Dr. Jonathan, who made the remarks at the 49th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the PDP in Abuja, also said that there is no stopping the party from participating in the gubernatorial election in Anambra State fixed for February 6, next year. He hinged his position on the popularity of PDP in the country and what he described as the rigorous campaigns, which the party has been undertaking.
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"I always tell people that even if you conduct presidential election 100 times and bring angels from the moon to conduct it, PDP will still win. [/size]Because as a human system, there may be some errors or flaws or perceived discrepancies in terms of the management of elections, but there is no other party today that I can say has a bigger followership than the PDP. If politics is a factor of the people, if the number matters, there is no reason any party will say I should have won.

In fact, immediately after the elections and whenever people come up with the feelings that PDP rigged, I used to say, 'look, I was the governor of Bayelsa State when we contested this presidential elections and in my state, though the population of Bayelsa is low, but because it is a strategic state because of the oil industry and the factors in the Niger Delta, any party that is worth winning elections is supposed to go there and campaign.' And not many parties campaigned there and the experience is quite like that in a number of states and some people would feel they would just sit down without campaigning and they say they will beat PDP," he said.

According to him, the feat achieved by the party in the previous elections was as a result of hard work.

On the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, Jonathan noted that the party has a challenge and should strive to overcome it because it would be a yardstick for the 2011 elections. He assured that in spite of the legal hurdles, PDP will still take part in the election "but the issue of candidacy has to be resolved."

In his opening address, the National Chairman of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, expressed concern over negative utterances by some people about the health status of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and said that people should not play God.

Reviewing the state of the nation, especially the enormous suffering the vast majority of Nigerians are going through in the midst of plenty, Fashola observed that the people are hungry for a people-oriented leadership that would liberate them.

The governor, who spoke in Lagos yesterday at a lecture organised by AC to usher in its yearly convention scheduled for the state tomorrow, Fashola urged his party men to double their efforts and devise fresh strategies that would enable the party provide the much needed leadership for the people of Nigeria.

His words: "We are at a great cost to liberate the people of Nigeria from this shackle of poverty and suffering in the midst of plenty. The expectation of the people rest squarely on a responsive leadership provided by our party, the Action Congress."

Apparently conscious of his wide rating as a performing governor, Fashola vowed to use the platform of AC to demonstrate to the rest of the world that Africa could perform, that Africa could deliver on promises and that Africa could take responsibility.

The governor used the forum to dispel rumour of in-fighting within the leadership of the party in the state.

There had been newspaper reports of clashes between him and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, over 2011 governorship ticket of the party in the state.

"Those who think we are fighting are dreaming by the time they wake up, they would be surprised to see the amount of development that have taken place while they were dreaming. I enjoy a very good relationship with the 40 members of the state House of Assembly with whom we jointly signed up to develop the state and take it to a greater height," he remarked.

In the lecture delivered by the chairman, Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA), Alhaji Alade Odunewu, he espoused the important role the media have to play in order to ensure good governance and the sanctity of the people's mandate. "The mass media is the barometer of any society and the best indicator of the social, political and economic climate. The basic function of the press is to present information in response to a basic human need - the right to know, if the democratic process is to operate effectively," he stated.

Nwabueze, a constitutional expert and teacher, said such an arrangement in which INEC conducts governorship and Houses of Assembly elections is against the principle of federalism as it is practised in other parts of the world. Delivering the first Goddy Jidenma Memorial Lecture on: "Strengthening the foundations and institutions of democracy in Africa," Nwabueze wondered how an INEC whose leadership was appointed by a partisan president who has absolute loyalty to his party, could conduct a free and fair election in the states without pandering to the interest of the president and by implication, his party, which appointed him.

His words: "It does great violence to the federal principle as to be almost subversive of it that a body appointed and removable by the Federal Government which is, therefore subject to its control and direction, should be responsible for the conduct of election of the governors and Houses of Assembly of the constituent states and federation."

Jonathan is a fool

No he's not; he is a politician.

Jonathan is a slowpoke. His view is disrespectful to the idea of one man one vote.

If angels were to act as referees in the elections, not only will they referee the actual election day, they will also oversee the whole election process and checkmate the hiring of PDP thugs, the barring of candidates by corrupt judges etc. They will also check the unavailability of ballots in anti-PDP areas. In short, Jonathan needs to understand that a fair election does not exclusively refer to election day alone, but all the processes that lead up to the election.

Jonathan. . . . Oh Jonathan, i reserve my comments. . . .

This is not the 1st time a pdp man will make such a rubbish statement!
Sometime ago, didnt ogbulafor or some other person, say that pdp will rule for the next 60 or so yrs?

Left to me, they would all rot in hell.

Methinks this statement by Jonathan is aimed at preparing PDP minds for his candidacy in 2011. It is widely assumed that the North will appoint a running mate to serve under him when Yaras incapacity becomes known. He will be expected to stand down for the Northern VP in 2011. This is his part of his ploy to steal the PDP mandate for 2011. Jonathan is a smart boy, remember he used to be a University Lecturer. Whilst his statement is anti-democratic, one can see the Machiavellian intent behind it.

Ibime:

Methinks this statement by Jonathan is aimed at preparing PDP minds for his candidacy in 2011. It is widely assumed that the North will appoint a running mate to serve under him when Yaras incapacity becomes known. He will be expected to stand down for the Northern VP in 2011. This is his part of his ploy to steal the PDP mandate for 2011. Jonathan is a smart boy, remember he used to be a University Lecturer. Whilst his statement is anti-democratic, one can see the Machiavellian intent behind it.

I don't think any part of his statement is anti-democratic. What he said is a real assessment of what goes on in Nigerian politics. Read the bits where he was quoted, ignore the headline or interpretations by the Editors because most times they don't know what they are saying.

PDP works harder for votes in this country while the opposition only goes to blow hot on the newspaper. This same issue is also true in the current Anambra elections as Soludo has made more effort to travel around town to ask for the people's vote. The only strategy of the opposition parties is to sit on their back side and malign PDP in the newspapers. When their strategy fails they run to court to look for how elections can be annulled. Why can't they make the effort to win in the first place be inventing new means of reaching out to the Nigerian people. I think the VP was right, we have to stop rewarding the laziness of the opposition in this country.

Ibime:

Methinks this statement by Jonathan is aimed at preparing PDP minds for his candidacy in 2011. It is widely assumed that the North will appoint a running mate to serve under him when Yaras incapacity becomes known. He will be expected to stand down for the Northern VP in 2011. This is his part of his ploy to steal the PDP mandate for 2011. Jonathan is a smart boy, remember he used to be a University Lecturer. Whilst his statement is anti-democratic, one can see the Machiavellian intent behind it.

Jonathan is just politicking, plain and simple! They all do it.

mikeansy:

I don't think any part of his statement is anti-democratic. What he said is a real assessment of what goes on in Nigerian politics. Read the bits where he was quoted, ignore the headline or interpretations by the Editors because most times they don't know what they are saying.

PDP works harder for votes in this country while the opposition only goes to blow hot on the newspaper. This same issue is also true in the current Anambra elections as Soludo has made more effort to travel around town to ask for the people's vote. The only strategy of the opposition parties is to sit on their back side and malign PDP in the newspapers. When their strategy fails they run to court to look for how elections can be annulled. Why can't they make the effort to win in the first place be inventing new means of reaching out to the Nigerian people. I think the VP was right, we have to stop rewarding the laziness of the opposition in this country.

Right to the point.

coolier:

Jonathan is just[b] politicking[/b], plain and simple! They all do it.

Political mind games perhaps