The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday said President Goodluck Jonathan’s stand on strengthening democracy was the reason former key ministers in his government failed to clinch the party’s ticket at the governorship primary elections their various states.
The party specifically listed former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, the former Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu and former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku who lost in Lagos, Abia and Nasarawa respectively.
However, there has been protests in many states of the country following allegations of sham primaries organised by the PDP.
For example, the Lagos State Capter of the party is yet to resolve the riddle concerning how 806 registered delegates voted only for 863 votes to be counted leading to Jimi Agbaje’s victory.
Obanikoro and the other contestants are still threatening legal actions against the party.
But in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday evening, the PDP said: “most of President Jonathan’s former key ministers and allies – Onyebuchi Chukwu, Musiliu Obanikoro and Labaran Maku all lost governorship primary election in their respective states.
“And what does that tell you? In Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria has a President with an iron cast resolve on democracy. He believes the worst form of corruption is electoral manipulation that silences the wishes of the people.
“Since the 2011 general election adjudged locally and internationally as the most credible in our recent history, not withstanding that he participated in it as an incumbent, the President has continued to move notches higher with his ‘one man, one vote’.
“Thus in governorship elections in Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states, the presidential commitment to democracy was the deciding factor.
“Again, this has played out in congresses and primaries of our great party.”
While some respondents to the statement praised the President, others castigated him, saying if former ministers could be so defeated, it meant that those who he had surrounded himself with over the years are failures.
Meanwhile, the PDP has replied Professor Akasoba Duke-Abiola, wife of Moshood Abiola, late businessman and acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 election, saying she was the one who refused to collect her money from the PDP after the party resolved to endorse President Jonathan as sole candidate for the presidential election in 2015.
Duke-Abiola had first alleged that the party refused to refund her N2 million after it refused her obtaining the presidential form even though she met the requirements.
She also later accused President Jonathan of ceasing her form so that she would not contest against him.
She is currently asking the court to stop Jonathan from contesting the election as the sole candidate of the party.
But in a statement issued by the national publicity secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja, on Wednesday, the party said it had noted the refusal of Duke-Abiola to collect her presidential expression of interest and nomination forms, in spite of the one week extension granted by the party, which expires on November 14, to accommodate teeming party faithful interested in running for respective offices.
The PDP also noted that Duke-Abiola willfully refused to collect her expression of interest form, with Code number PD002/P and serial number 0000003 and nomination form with Code number PD003/P and serial number 0000003, even after it was sent to her through her lawyers.
Metuh said Duke-Abiola’s refusal to collect the forms suggested an ulterior motive, adding that other aspirants, including Dr Ghalil Tafawa Balewa and President Goodluck Jonathan, collected their forms on October 30 and November 6 respectively.
The party expressed surprise that Duke-Abiola chose to go to court instead of taking advantage of the extension, which expires today.
Noting that the aspirant still has until the close of today to collect her forms, the PDP said failure to do so, it would have no option but to consider her as not being interested in the contest.
