President Goodluck Jonathan has stated that the defection by five Peoples Democratic Party Governors to the All Progressives Congress does not pose any threat to the ruling PDP.
Jonathan, who addressed PDP members at the 65th National Executive Committee meeting of the Party yesterday said Governors Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Nyako, Ahmed and Wamakko could not even win Local Government elections in their state for the APC.
The President said, “I appreciate the governors. Though some people left us, we’re not noticing their absence.
“When some governors moved and some members of the National Assembly also moved, some people thought they would soon overrun the party, but when I looked across, from my vantage position, I didn’t really see the threat.
“I told the then national chairman(Bamanga Tukur) to let us organise national unity rallies to demonstrate our strength, so that people will know that one or two persons leaving our fold is inconsequential.
“I’m not even sure they can win their wards in an election now, because some of those states are totally PDP states.
“When you leave and you think you would be leaving with the whole state, by the time you get there, you’ll discover that others stay back and are continuing with the PDP. Some of the governors are even afraid to conduct local government elections.”
“At a time, the whole thing(defection) was stalemated; but now more people are even coming to the PDP because if you really want to play politics, the party to be in is the PDP.
“Our democratic credentials go unchallenged. It’s still the only party where you can become a candidate based on free and fair primaries. It’s the party where we don’t impose candidates on members or constituencies.
“It is the party whose candidates are accepted at all levels. And I believe that with this position of the party, we’ll continue to dominate the political landscape of this country.
“The PDP is still the only party that has never changed its name, logo, etc. When you go abroad they can’t remember the names of the other parties due to the level of mutation. We thank all members of the party for their selflessness.”
“At a time we had issues with the National Assembly and as PDP members we were beginning to worry.
“When I attend ECOWAS and African Union meetings, people always asked me what the problem was. They always say that things coming out of the nation did not reflect the fact that the PDP controlled it.
“But since Adamu Mu’azu, the game changer, assumed control, we have begun to see changes. We now see that the National Assembly is a PDP assembly.”
“And let me join our national chairman to say that this is not a very good time for us. I assure our party that we are taking up those challenges. Perhaps, as a society there were certain things we left undone, and now we’re facing the reality.”
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