Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih has urged the ruling party to hand automatic tickets to President Goodluck Jonathan, as well as state governors and members of the National Assembly who have performed well in office, ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The position of Anenih, who was speaking in Abuja at the weekend during a presidential dinner with leaders of the party across the country, lends credence to widespread belief that the party is planning to amend its constitution in order to provide a return ticket for a sitting president to contest for a second term in office.
“There is nothing wrong if the PDP considers automatic tickets for the president and its governors, who have performed well and are seeking a second term,” he said.
“It is my view that with the outstanding performance of President Jonathan in the areas of power, rail, water transportation, road construction, aviation reforms, education, agriculture, job creation and so on, the party should not find it difficult in granting him the opportunity to serve a second term, if he so desires.
“Since this gathering is all-embracing and fully representative of our party membership nationwide, I would like to repeat what I said in Asaba about our party primaries.
“I did say that, over the years, our primaries have been the most serious sources of rancour and disunity in our ranks, and, that we usually invest so much resources and energy fighting ourselves in the primaries that should have gone into the larger battle against our political rivals. I had admonished that we could not continue this tradition of internal warfare and hope that we would have enough energy left to win elections.”
According to Anenih, the new plan would help to forestall frictions and acrimony in the nomination process, in the overall interest of the party and the country. On other matters, he lamented frequent attacks on the president by the opposition and urged all PDP loyalists to rise in his defence.
“The opposition has been relentless in churning out damaging propaganda about this administration for the purpose of destabilising it,” he said.
“It is sad that a few members of our party are accomplices of this evil mechanisation. I enjoin all of us to assist in promoting the policies and projects of the Jonathan administration.
“Our historical and political experience demands that we give President Jonathan the maximum cooperation to succeed in transforming this country into a stable and prosperous industrial nation. If we do not cherish and sell our good product, nobody will help us to sell it.”
He implored party members to show more respect to the office of the president, and reverse the trend of state party leaders absenting themselves from events to be attended by the president, even when they have received invitations.
“As party leaders, we must learn to show loyalty and respect for constituted authority, that being the only way to promote unity,” he charged.
“If we want to continue to enjoy the solid support of Nigerians, we must show to them that we are deserving of their support. We cannot afford to continue to act unruly, create unnecessary tension in the party with the consequence of heating up the polity, and expect Nigerians to applaud us.
He decried the emergence of two chairmen of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), who are both members of the party, and described it as an embarrassing crisis that must be quickly resolved.
“This is an embarrassing situation, which must be urgently addressed. The supremacy of the party must be recognised and enforced,” he said.
“The leadership of the party will not tolerate a situation where it will preside over a divided house. If we expect the PDP house to stand the test of time, to withstand and overcome the storms and crises being fuelled by the opposition parties, we must be united, focused, decisive and dedicated to a com
