TWO-PARTY SYSTEM GOOD FOR NIGERIA – JONATHAN

•Tukur urges party members to stop humiliating President

President Goodluck Jonathan observed on Thursday that it will be in the interest of Nigerian politics if only two big political parties exist in the country.

He made the observation at the opening of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the party’s National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

In fact, the President enthused that the newly

formed political association, All Progressives Congress (APC), was nothing but a product of the strength of  the PDP which, he said, “scared the opposition parties into coming together to struggle for political relevance with the PDP.”

PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, also spoke warning party members to stop disrespecting the President. Tukur also lamented that members had consistently shown total disre-gard for party leaders.

Jonathan applauded the creation of PDP Governors Forum (PDP GF), which, he noted, became imperative following the dwindling political fortunes of the party.

He recalled that the party had Governors elected on its platform reduced to 23 now, from almost 30 in 1999.

“Governor Akpabio said it all that at the beginning, there was no need for PDP GF but now that we have reduced in number to 23, definitely, this should be the least. We cannot shrink below this level. We must build up.

“As at the time of formation of the Nigerian Governors Forum, focus was slightly different. In every organisation, over the years, there must be some change of direction and so on and so forth.

“So, looking at the number of PDP Governors vis a vis the total number of Governors, it becomes very clear that the PDP needs to have their own thing because we have realised that some of the other political parties, the Governors used to meet before coming for general meetings.

“But PDP being the elephant among them, did not really bother much. But over the period, we have realised that there is the need for them to also meet because politics is politics. Politics is a game of interest.

“I remember the first time I read Obasanjo’s book, that was 1981, ‘My Command’, and he said that in politics, there is nothing like permanent friends or permanent enemies but permanent interests.

“I believe even in local politics, the interest matters so much. There is no permanent friend, no permanent enemy, but permanent interest and as long as people have different interests, there must be disagreement.

“But as a member of a political party, we must know that no matter what, the party’s interest must supersede any other interest. At the end of the day, all our interests will converge to one interest, that is the interest of PDP.

“One good thing that Nigerians should commend PDP for now is that if you look at the evolution of political parties, it is now stable.

“Before, when elections are coming, by now you will be hearing about new parties being formed and at a time, the ballot paper was becoming too long, INEC was finding a way of deregistering parties.

“Because PDP has come on very strong, no matter the criticism, they know that we are very strong and they realise that what they need to do is not forming new parties but parties coming together. So, we are helping to stabilise the polity.

“We will encourage them to come together more. We want a situation where it is PDP versus one. In that case, the polity will be more stable. Even our members will be more loyal to the party because you will have nowhere to go.

“All this time, immediately we disagree in PDP, somebody is picking form in one PPP, DDD party and contesting House of Assembly or House of Representatives or Senate.

“When we have only two, before you get there, they have already occupied that place. So, even if we disagree, we will agree at the end of the day and it will even help to build a stronger party.

“So, Nigerians should commend PDP. If PDP was weak, people wouldn’t have gathered together. There wouldn’t have been any reason for parties to come together to fight PDP.

Tukur in his remarks asked members to learn to respect the President, noting that, “Ample evidence within the territory of democracy has shown that democratically elected Presidents are symbols of every nation.

“Here in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan is our symbol. He must therefore be respected and treated with dignity. Undermining the leader for no just reasons can never bring us good results.”

Source: Daily Independent