Chairman
of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony
Anenih, has asked members of the party to consider automatic tickets for
President Goodluck Jonathan, performing governors and members of the National
Assembly.
Chief Anenih, who stated this in a message delivered to a
meeting of selected leaders of the party, on Friday, in Abuja, said that the
proposal would ensure that the primaries of the party become less rancorous.
Chief Anenih stated that the party needed to move ahead into the
2015 battle as a united front, adding that some party members had lately been
colluding with the opposition to engineer negative propaganda against the PDP.
He declared: “I do not see anything wrong if the PDP considers
automatic tickets for the president and its governors who have performed well
and are seeking a second term. It is my view that with the outstanding
performance of President Jonathan in the areas of power, rail and water transportation,
road construction, aviation reforms, education, agriculture, job creation, etc,
the party should not find it difficult granting him the opportunity to serve a
second term if he so desires.”
According to Anenih, the PDP cannot afford to continue to behave
unruly if it must continue to enjoy the support of Nigerians.
“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. Nigerians can only be encouraged to identify
with us, if the promotion of harmony, cohesion and development of the party and
our nation is topmost on our agenda,” Anenih said.
On the 2015 process, he said that as he earlier positioned in
Asaba during a PDP meeting, there was the need to get into the election mood as
a united front.
“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,” he stated.
He added that the PDP must evolve a new system of selecting
flag-bearers at the presidential and governorship levels, so as to preserve the
unity and cohesion of the party.
He also stated that the same automatic tickets should apply to
performing members of the National Assembly although they enjoy indefinite
number of terms. The proposed arrangement would.
“I believe, help to forestall frictions and acrimony in the
nomination process, in the overall interest of our party and the nation.”
Source: Tribune
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