Why Jonathan stayed to monitor convention'Convention mockery of democracy, says ACNGOVERNORS and lawmakers elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other prominent leaders of the ruling party yesterday listed their expectations from the Bamanga Tukur-led executive.Among those who set agenda for the new executive yesterday were the Northern Governors' Forum (NGF), Abia State Governor Theodore Orji and his Delta State counterpart, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Senate President David Mark.The northern governors said consensus would, which ruled at the convention, bring about unity in the party.Chairman of the NGF and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, challenged the new leadership to 'be fair to all' and make equity and justice its cardinal principles so as to avoid intra-party crisis.The forum assured Nigerians of Jonathan administration's commitment to the enthronement of genuine democracy and good governance for the benefit of all.Orji, who alsocongratulated Tukur and his team on their victory at the event, asked the new leaders to transform the PDP while Uduaghan charged them to respect the constitution of the party and the rights of the members.Mark tasked Tukur-led National Working Committee (NWC)on discipline and unity in the party.In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, Mark, who congratulated the new leadership of the party, noted that therewas urgent need to begin the process of building bridges of understanding, peace and unity among members.Apparently to avoid a repeat of the defeat of his candidates at the convention as it happened in the election of the principal officers of the House of Representatives, President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly opted to stay till the end of the exercise.The President indeed waited until the consensus arrangement was consummated at the Eagle Square on Saturday.In June last year, Jonathan had relied on the same consensus arrangement for the Speaker of the Lower House and travelled to New York for a United Nations (UN) summit.As soon as he was airborne, his 'opponents' in the PDP mobilised for the election of Aminu Tambuwal from the North-West where Vice President Namadi Sambo hails from. Thus, the South-West geo-political zone, which the office was allotted, lost the slot.The 'rebellion' led to over-saturation of posts in the South-East till date with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, and Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha coming from the same zone.The ghost of that ill-fated trip is still haunting the Jonathan presidency as it even led to zoning the party's leadership to the North-East that was denied the Deputy Speaker slot then.This time around, Jonathan, billed to travel yesterday to Seoul, South Korea, to attend the Second Nuclear Security Summit 2012 of world leaders, stayed put until the consensus deals were perfected.It was a shameful spectacle at the event that even after 13 years in power in Nigeria, the PDP could not guarantee power supply where it was holding its convention in Abuja. The party has been in power since 1999.Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was there as the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman shaped vital aspects of the day.But he left the convention venue dramatically after ensuring a sure-landing for former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola as PDP's National Secretary.The position zoned to the South-West became an apple of discord after the early risers for the position, including Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Prof. Tunde Adeniran and Chief Dapo Sarunmi were prevailed upon to step down for Oyinlola who did not apply until after the deadline for submission of application forms.It was discovered that the former president was no longer in the state box when it was clear that Babatope had grudgingly stepped down and the coast was clear for Oyinlola to emerge.The combined effects of Chief Bode George and former Governor Olusegun Oni of Ekiti State persuasion was not enough to make Adeniran to step down. The duo tried all the tricks in the books but the former Minister of Education was adamant. The man who would have been Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States (U.S.) refused to weep like Babatope.Babatope later told sympathisers that he wept for democracy the PDP way.Mark appealed to those who lost out at the convention to continue to support the new leadership in the administration of the party in the interest of all, saying 'without fear of contradiction, the PDP has once again proven to be the only democratic partyready to take thenation to the promised land.'Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, described the emergence of Tukur as the PDP chairman as a positive development and enjoined the former governor of the defunct Gongola State to use his experience to unite the party and Nigeria.Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said the kangaroo national convention held by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the weekend has sealed the fate of the party as an undisputed one-man-show that is totally contemptuous of internal democracy.In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also described President Goodluck Jonathan as an emerging dictator who, in the process of remaking the PDP in his own image, has further pushedthe party into the realms of abyss.It said President Jonathan must by now be regretting the day he took a swipe at other political parties for lacking in internal democracy, when his party cannot even spell the word 'democracy', not to talk of possessing it.'Today, the joke is on the same President, who cajoled and arm-twisted others to step down for his anointed candidate as Chairof the PDP during a mock convention. It is now obvious that President Jonathan either does not understand what internal democracy means, or he is being deliberately cheeky in castigating other political parties for lacking in internal democracy,'' it said.
Click here to read full news..
