THE Presidency, on Monday, advanced reasons why President Goodluck Jonathan stayed away from the governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his home state of Bayelsa, at the weekend, where Honourable Seriake Dickson emerged as the standard-bearer of the party.
Jonathan, together with members of the National Assembly from the state, except Honourable Dickson, was absent at the primary being challenged by Governor Timipre Sylva, with speculations that the president had a hand in the political woe of the governor.
Responding to a question put to him by the Nigerian Tribune at a news conference in Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Ali Gulak, listed Jonathan’s engagement with state matters, as well as his decision to remain neutral as reasons he decided to stay away from the primary.
The presidential aide said had the president gone to cast his vote at the primary, allegations would have heightened that he (Jonathan) was supporting a particular candidate.
He defended the decision of the PDP on the Bayelsa governorship tussle as sacrosanct and maintained that there was no court order that stopped the primary.
On whether political development would not cost the party victory in the February 2012 governorship election, Alhaji Gulak said the PDP was not insisting that it must win all 36 states in the federation, adding that “PDP has the right to forward the name of a candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whether that candidate wins or loses is secondary.”
According to him, “If that candidate fails, it does not derogate the right of the party to present a candidate.”
“I want to assure you that this party, PDP, has precedent. Even when incumbent Chinwoke Mbadinuju was governor, PDP excluded him from the primary for a second term, based on the fact that he did not meet up with the expectations of the party and heavens did not fall.
“Why is it that what happened in Bayelsa is now causing a lot of problems? I want to assure you that the PDP is a firm, organised political party, once it takes a decision, everybody must be bound by it, including the president, because the party is supreme.”
Alhaji Gulaku, however, reassured citizens in the country that the president was confronting the security challenge with commitment.
Reacting to the doubts being expressed in certain quarters over Jonathan’s presidency and its ability to handle the increasing wave of insecurity, Alhaji Gulak said terrorism in the country was “a new phenomenon.”
Addressing journalists, he urged the citizens to exercise patience with the government, as it worked to tackle the insecurity challenge and live up to its responsibility of ensuring that life and property were protected in the country.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja will, today, hear the suit filed by Governor Sylva, challenging his disqualification from participating in the PDP primary held on Saturday in Yenagoa.
Also, the winner of the primary, Honourable Dickson, on Monday, asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to join him as a party in the suit filed by Sylva.
Dickson had, through his counsel, asked the presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, to join him as a party, arguing that having won the ticket of the party for the election, he could be affected by the outcome of the case.
The PDP has, however, gone to the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, to challenge the suit instituted by Sylva to challenge his disqualification.
The party, through its national legal adviser, Olusola Oke, was asking the appellate court for an order staying further proceedings in the suit brought by Sylva, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed by the applicant against the decision of the Federal High Court in the said suit delivered on November 15.
Courtesy: Tribune Newspapers