Jonathan ignores Anenih’s 2015 advice
President Goodluck Jonathan has ignored
the advice given to him by the Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party
Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, over his 2015 presidential
ambition.
Anenih had during the PDP
post-convention dinner held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential
Villa, Abuja on Sunday said the President could not afford to continue
to tell Nigerians that time was not ripe for him to declare his interest
in the Presidential race.
He advised the President to declare his
ambition either this month or latest by October this year. The
politician said the President’s declaration latest by October was
necessary to give the party a proper direction and set the agenda
straight as the party, for the first time, had embarked on discussing
its future.
“I will appeal to our leader, the
President of this country, that at the end of September or as we enter
October, we should not tell anybody that the time is not right. I think
the time is right. It is good that we tell
our people where we are going
to; what our journey will be like,” Anenih said in reference to
Jonathan’s 2015 ambition.
But the Special Adviser to the President
on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, told one of our
correspondents in Abuja on Thursday that the President was not
contemplating changing his mind on his decision to declare his position
on the poll only in 2014.
He said regardless of that advice, the
President would rather stick to the 2014 date which he had promised
Nigerians, adding that Anenih’s admonition was the PDP chief’s personal
opinion.
He said, “Chief Anenih gave his own
opinion. As Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, I
have told Nigerians before and I am repeating it now that President
Jonathan will tell them whether he will contest or not in 2014. We stick
to that decision, our plan is to tell Nigerians our position in 2014,
not now.”
On whether the crisis in the ruling PDP,
particularly the opposition of seven state governors, was not a hurdle
to the President’s ambition, the presidential aide said the crisis in
the party was not more than that of any other party in the country. He
said the situation was a normal occurrence in a big political party like
the PDP.
Gulak then expressed the conviction that
the ugly situation would soon be a thing of the past. He said, “There
is no crisis in the PDP that is more than any other party in the
country. Internal disagreement is a normal thing. It will always happen
in a big party like the PDP. It has happened before.
“I am assuring you that the crisis will become a thing of the past very soon.”
Meanwhile, the opposition All
Progressives Congress has berated the President and the PDP for
repeatedly breaking the law which forbids parties from campaigning for
the 2015 elections.
The party was reacting to Thursday’s inauguration of the Elders Committee of the Goodluck Jonathan Support Group in Abuja.
A former Deputy Senate President,
Senator Ibrahim Mantu, had said during the event that he was convinced
that 2015 was in the pocket of the PDP.
But the Interim National Publicity
Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told Saturday PUNCH in
Abuja on Thursday that the Jonathan administration had enthroned a
culture of impunity.
He explained that the President’s supporters had carried on as if there were no laws guiding the process.
He said the Independent National
Electoral Commission had warned politicians against early campaigns,
adding that Section 99 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010 ( As amended)
stipulates that campaigns shall commence 90 days to the election and end
24 hours to the Election Day.
Mohammed, said, “They did not start
(campaigns) today. The First Lady’s peace and empowerment rally that led
to the closure of Abuja was the beginning of Jonathan’s campaign.
“The ladies were wearing T-shirts bearing Jonathan’s pictures. This government has enthroned a culture of impunity.”
But his counterpart for the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, dismissed these claims.
He explained that the inauguration of
the elders committee for the Goodluck Support Group had nothing to do
with the 2015 election.
According to him, the group was set up
to propagate the activities of the Jonathan administration. This, he
said, they had done successfully over the years. The publicity secretary
insisted that no law had been broken.
Metuh said, “The opposition is quick to
cry foul because they don’t have anything to do. The opposition in
Nigeria cannot produce any agenda. They don’t have any plan for the
country.
“So all they do is to criticise and cry
wolf where there is none and the opposition we have in Nigeria is the
worst opposition that we ever had in democracy anywhere. They are a
bunch of frustrated people.”
He argued that the inauguration of the
Elders Committee of the GSG was in continuation of its efforts to
strengthen its activities and further enlighten members of the public
about the achievements of the Jonathan administration.
Metuh also said PDP and Jonathan had not flouted any known law of the country.
Also speaking on the issue, the
national coordinator of the group, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, said the
committee was not particular about 2015.
Gulak, who is also the Special Adviser
to the President on Political Matters, argued that the organisation had
been in existence since 2010 and had made positive contributions towards
the unity of the country.
He said, “We are not particular about
2015. The Goodluck Support Group has been in existence since 2010 and we
are sure that the group has contributed its quota to the unity of this
country in enlightening Nigerians on the programmes of the
administration.
“We have been working at the grassroots
level, we have been working conscientiously, we have been enlightening
the people about the need for peace. And the group felt that it needed a
council of elders that would sit back and use their wisdom and continue
to advise us.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission has, however, declined to make a pronouncement on the issue.
When contacted, the Chief Press
Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said he was yet to get
a full picture of what transpired at the event.
He told one of our correspondents, “ We need to get enough information on this issue before we make any pronouncement.”
INEC, had in a statement signed by the
Chief Press Secretary to its chairman, Kayode Idowu, on June 8, 2013
warned politicians against early campaigns citing provisions of Section
99(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).
The section stipulates that campaigns shall commence 90 days to the election and end 24 hours to the Election Day.
The statement came against the backdrop
of campaign posters of leading politicians such as President Goodluck
Jonathan, Congress for Progress Change (CPC) national leader, Maj.-Gen
Muhammadu Buhari; Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi; and his
Jigawa State counterpart, Alhaji Sule Lamido, which had surfaced in
various parts of the country.
The commission warned that it would not
hesitate to sanction politicians and political parties that violated the
provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act as regard early
campaigns.
It also called on security agencies to arrest violators as such campaigns were a threat to democracy.