2011: Setback for Jonathan as PDP throws race open
Sanni Ologun 13/08/2010 01:27:00
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) threw the presidential race open Thursday.
President Goodluck Jonathan can run, just as any other aspirant, party chair Okwesilieze Nwodo said.
He spoke at the 52nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting where Dr Jonathan said opposition parties have conceded the presidency in the 2011 election to the PDP.
Nwodo said, adding that the party would hold a special national convention where it would amend its constitution – in line with the new Electoral Act.
Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema was said to have moved the motion that Jonathan should be allowed to contest. It was seconded by former BOT chair Chief Tony Anenih.
The NEC also adopted a memo by Nwodo that zoning and rotation of offices would continue to be an integral part of the administration of the PDP.
The NEC was also said to have suspended the e-registration of PDP members to “allow for wider consultation”.
The party also readmitted Abia State Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji and granted him a waiver to contest.
Politicians who returned to the party from Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Abia and Niger states were granted waivers to contest elections under the banner of the party.
The National Working Committee (NWC) was mandated to revisit the dissolved state executive committee in Ogun State, with the aim of settling the party’s crisis amicably.
Nwodo and other leaders of the party are to visit Ogun State next week to reconcile the factions.
A source who attended the meeting said: “The National Chairman of the PDP read the resolution of the Expanded Caucus Meeting to NEC.
"At the end of the day, the motion for the retention of zoning was endorsed, pointing to the fact that the governors had done their homework.
"After the resolution, the mood of the President’s camp at the meeting suggested a kind of unease because he has to oil his political machinery very well in running against the decision of the party.
"So, in the real sense of it, the ticket is open, but most members would be guided by the party’s decision that the zoning formula should be respected."
Concerning online registration, the source added that when it was raised, three governors rose up to condemn it.
He added: “To the surprise of everyone, Governor Timpre Sylva and the chairman of the PDP in Ekiti said NEC members do not want it. Sylva said 85 per cent of Bayelsa State is water-logged and the online registration is impossible.”
Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu) said online registration is “no-go area and should be stopped.” Uduaghan also said that 35 per cent of Delta landmass is covered by water, it was learnt.
"All the governors and state party chairmen rejected the exercise, which would have been launched on Friday (today).
"The NEC members asked that the online registration be stopped forthwith. The decision reflected the outcome of an earlier meeting which the governors had in Kwara Lodge yesterday,” said another source.
Jonathan’s camp has returned to the drawing board to consider whether to take the risk to contest or not.
A source in the camp said: “We were not pleased with the double-speak resolution of the NEC. They opted for zoning and asked Jonathan and any member to exercise their rights to contest.
"It is a delicate situation but we will meet to re-strategise and weigh options before any pronouncement from the President."
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was absent at the meeting.
It was learnt that Obasanjo’s absence may not be unconnected with the rejection of his suggestion by the Board of Trustees of the PDP that zoning should be cancelled.
Jonathan said: "Just look at the issue of zoning or no zoning; it is PDP affair. Whether we zone or don’t zone, it is our own internal affairs. But the debate is even being spearheaded more by non-PDP members.
"That shows that what happens in PDP; in fact, they have already conceded the presidency to us. Otherwise, they have no business coming to join our own debate. That means that they have already known that the PDP will produce the president of this country, but do it well.
"That is why they decided to join our debate; whether we zone or not zone. So I believe those other candidates who want to be president know that their parties have surrendered to PDP."
The President noted that there is bound to be disagreements when two people are working together. The PDP would continue to resolve its internal disputes through dialogue and not by fighting, Jonathan said.
Jonathan said the 2011 elections would be conducted in such a way that only very few candidates would want to challenge the results in court.
He said: "The way others look at us, as if we cannot conduct elections that are acceptable. To some extent, we are doing fairly well. But at the end of the elections, the number of us that go to court are so many.
"This time around, we will conduct the elections in a way that only very few people will want to go to court.”
He said going by numbers, the party could always predict the outcome of elections because it still has the majority.
Nwodo, in his opening remarks, said zoning had been entrenched in the party’s constitution and there is no way it could be jettisoned, if equity, fairness and justice are to be upheld.
He added that since Jonathan came on the same joint ticket with the late President Yar’Adua, it was fair for him to be allowed to contest the 2011 presidential election without excluding other presidential aspirants who also wish to partake in the exercise.
Nwodo said: "It has become imperative, due to the new Electoral Act to hold a special convention and bi-annual conference to update our party constitution before the primary election.
"Already, the constitutional amendment notices have gone out, but additional notices would follow to capture the changes in the Electoral Act and other areas.”
He tacitly apologised to the governors who had drawn a battleline with him on the way he has been going about the issue of reforms in the party.
Nwodo said: “I know that reforms are sometimes hard to accept, especially when we are called upon to abandon old ways of doing things.
"Furthermore, in preaching these reforms, we may have hurt the sensibility of some of our members; we hereby present our unreserved apology. But, we, however, continue to appeal that these reforms be accepted by all our party members."
Sanni Ologun 13/08/2010 01:27:00
THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) threw the presidential race open Thursday.
President Goodluck Jonathan can run, just as any other aspirant, party chair Okwesilieze Nwodo said.
He spoke at the 52nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting where Dr Jonathan said opposition parties have conceded the presidency in the 2011 election to the PDP.
Nwodo said, adding that the party would hold a special national convention where it would amend its constitution – in line with the new Electoral Act.
Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema was said to have moved the motion that Jonathan should be allowed to contest. It was seconded by former BOT chair Chief Tony Anenih.
The NEC also adopted a memo by Nwodo that zoning and rotation of offices would continue to be an integral part of the administration of the PDP.
The NEC was also said to have suspended the e-registration of PDP members to “allow for wider consultation”.
The party also readmitted Abia State Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji and granted him a waiver to contest.
Politicians who returned to the party from Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Abia and Niger states were granted waivers to contest elections under the banner of the party.
The National Working Committee (NWC) was mandated to revisit the dissolved state executive committee in Ogun State, with the aim of settling the party’s crisis amicably.
Nwodo and other leaders of the party are to visit Ogun State next week to reconcile the factions.
A source who attended the meeting said: “The National Chairman of the PDP read the resolution of the Expanded Caucus Meeting to NEC.
"At the end of the day, the motion for the retention of zoning was endorsed, pointing to the fact that the governors had done their homework.
"After the resolution, the mood of the President’s camp at the meeting suggested a kind of unease because he has to oil his political machinery very well in running against the decision of the party.
"So, in the real sense of it, the ticket is open, but most members would be guided by the party’s decision that the zoning formula should be respected."
Concerning online registration, the source added that when it was raised, three governors rose up to condemn it.
He added: “To the surprise of everyone, Governor Timpre Sylva and the chairman of the PDP in Ekiti said NEC members do not want it. Sylva said 85 per cent of Bayelsa State is water-logged and the online registration is impossible.”
Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Sullivan Chime (Enugu) said online registration is “no-go area and should be stopped.” Uduaghan also said that 35 per cent of Delta landmass is covered by water, it was learnt.
"All the governors and state party chairmen rejected the exercise, which would have been launched on Friday (today).
"The NEC members asked that the online registration be stopped forthwith. The decision reflected the outcome of an earlier meeting which the governors had in Kwara Lodge yesterday,” said another source.
Jonathan’s camp has returned to the drawing board to consider whether to take the risk to contest or not.
A source in the camp said: “We were not pleased with the double-speak resolution of the NEC. They opted for zoning and asked Jonathan and any member to exercise their rights to contest.
"It is a delicate situation but we will meet to re-strategise and weigh options before any pronouncement from the President."
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was absent at the meeting.
It was learnt that Obasanjo’s absence may not be unconnected with the rejection of his suggestion by the Board of Trustees of the PDP that zoning should be cancelled.
Jonathan said: "Just look at the issue of zoning or no zoning; it is PDP affair. Whether we zone or don’t zone, it is our own internal affairs. But the debate is even being spearheaded more by non-PDP members.
"That shows that what happens in PDP; in fact, they have already conceded the presidency to us. Otherwise, they have no business coming to join our own debate. That means that they have already known that the PDP will produce the president of this country, but do it well.
"That is why they decided to join our debate; whether we zone or not zone. So I believe those other candidates who want to be president know that their parties have surrendered to PDP."
The President noted that there is bound to be disagreements when two people are working together. The PDP would continue to resolve its internal disputes through dialogue and not by fighting, Jonathan said.
Jonathan said the 2011 elections would be conducted in such a way that only very few candidates would want to challenge the results in court.
He said: "The way others look at us, as if we cannot conduct elections that are acceptable. To some extent, we are doing fairly well. But at the end of the elections, the number of us that go to court are so many.
"This time around, we will conduct the elections in a way that only very few people will want to go to court.”
He said going by numbers, the party could always predict the outcome of elections because it still has the majority.
Nwodo, in his opening remarks, said zoning had been entrenched in the party’s constitution and there is no way it could be jettisoned, if equity, fairness and justice are to be upheld.
He added that since Jonathan came on the same joint ticket with the late President Yar’Adua, it was fair for him to be allowed to contest the 2011 presidential election without excluding other presidential aspirants who also wish to partake in the exercise.
Nwodo said: "It has become imperative, due to the new Electoral Act to hold a special convention and bi-annual conference to update our party constitution before the primary election.
"Already, the constitutional amendment notices have gone out, but additional notices would follow to capture the changes in the Electoral Act and other areas.”
He tacitly apologised to the governors who had drawn a battleline with him on the way he has been going about the issue of reforms in the party.
Nwodo said: “I know that reforms are sometimes hard to accept, especially when we are called upon to abandon old ways of doing things.
"Furthermore, in preaching these reforms, we may have hurt the sensibility of some of our members; we hereby present our unreserved apology. But, we, however, continue to appeal that these reforms be accepted by all our party members."
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