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THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE Global Village President Jonathan to contest elections VANGUARD NEWS - Abuja — The
National Executive Committee, NEC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the weekend, ratified the decision of the Board of Trustees, BoT, and its extended caucus to sustain the zoning and rotation arrangement of the party, just as it said that President Goodluck Jonathan should contest for the 2011 presidential election.
At the end of the NEC meeting,
members agreed that zoning and rota- tion must remain in the best interest of the country at this level of develop- ment in line with the Party’s constitu- tion.They also said that other persons can contest for the position at the party’s primaries as in 2003 when the likes of late Abubakar Rimi ran against former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The NEC members said that President Jonathan should contest and remain in office till 2015 because the present ticket was a continuation of late Presi- dent Umaru Yar’Adua’s.
Rising from its 52nd National Ex-
ecutive Committee meeting held at the party’s conference hall, the members also killed the online registration proj- ect of the national chairman, Dr. Ok- wesilieze Nwodo.
The online registration project was
flagged off by President Jonathan last Monday as part of Nwodo’s reforms for the party. The meeting, which started at 1:40 p.m. with an opening prayer by the former governor of Old Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, after President Jonathan entered the venue of the meeting at 1:38, ended at 6.30 p.m. after what was termed a serious brainstorming and stormy session.
The party said that the issue of
zoning must be adopted at all levels from the wards, local and state. Though, there was no briefing by the party at the end of the meeting, it was gathered that the meeting did not go smoothly as the governors reportedly confronted the national chairman of the party over his reforms which they described as not friendly to them.
Rationale behind reforms
Vanguard learned that the nation-
al chairman explained the rationale behind his reforms, but that he could not convince the governors.
It was also gathered that the motion
for the adoption of zoning and rotation staying in the party was moved by the Katsina State governor and seconded by former chairman, Board of Trust- ees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih.
“In the 2011 presidential primaries,
we were faced with unforeseen circum- stances, which can only be likened to a national crisis we faced recently when our late president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was ill and couldn’t transfer power to the then vice president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
“The country rose to the occasion
and parliament successfully transmit- ted power to the vice president as act- ingPresident.
“In the zoning arrangement, we
didn’t envisage that a serving presi- dent would die in office, unfortunately we lost our dear president.
Right beneficiary “Boni Haruna, in spite of the court
Goodluck Jonathan
According to a source who was at the meeting, the governors and state chair- men of the party also said that the Na- tional Working Committee, NWC, of the party did not have the constitutional right to sack a state executive of the party, stressing that such issues must be referred to NEC.
It was learned that the dissolu-
tion of Ogun State Exco came up and the national chairman made a u-turn and promised to visit Ogun State on Monday to meet with stakeholders of the party.
On the online registration, it was
gathered that members, including Gov- ernors Gabriel Suswan of Benue, Em- manuel Uduaghan of Delta and Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa spoke against it.
They reportedly argued that those
in the rural areas might not be able to afford the N1,200 and that considering the time frame when the party is pre- paring for election, the project may not be possible.
Even when Chief Tony Anenih and
Samuel Ogbemudia tried to defend the online registration project that it could work as a pilot scheme and be made to go side by side with the current mode of registration, the arguments still did not save the situation.
Kwara State Governor Dr. Bukola
Saraki reportedly moved a motion to rest the project and this was seconded by one of the PDP chairmen from the Southwest, to finally lay the project to rest.
Nothing stops Jonathan from
running: Nwodo Speaking at the meeting, chairman
of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo said that noth- ing stopped President Goodluck Jona- than from running the 2011 presiden- tial election.
He said that President Jonathan was
currently enjoying a joint ticket of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, adding that if the late president were alive today, he would have contested and rounded off in 2015.
Nwodo, who spoke at the 52nd Na-
tional Executive Committee, NEC, meeting of the party, noted that con- testing the 2011 presidential election was President Jonathan’s entitlement.
He said: “The PDP as a responsible
organization is responsive to the spirit and letters of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which en- joins the practice of federal character in the distribution of public offices.
“The misconception, accusations
that PDP has abandoned zoning is very far from the truth. When our president emerged, he chose a northern Muslim as his vice president .
“When the chairman resigned, he
was replaced by another chairman from the Southeastern zone. Our Senate president, speaker, deputy Senate president and deputy speaker are from different zones of the country.
“At the state level, we encourage
rotation of our governors among the three senatorial zones in our state. How then can PDP be said to have abandoned zoning or rotation?
challenge to deny him that mandate was adjudged by the courts as right beneficiary of that ticket and he went on to do two terms as governor of Ad- amawa State. Today, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan by the dictate of our consti- tution is exercising the term of a joint mandate, given by the people of our great country.
“If our late president were alive
today, we wouldn’t be contesting his right to run for a second term under our national constitution. It was his entitlement.
“But Dr. Jonathan, who is part and
parcel of that mandate, has a right to contest the remaining of that joint ticket in 2011.
“This will, of course, not exclude
any other aspirant from any part of the country from contesting the presi- dential primary, as it has become the custom of our party.”
Nwodo, who intimated NEC mem-
bers of planned reforms for the party, especially in the areas of updating the manifesto, said, “It has become im- perative, due to the new Electoral Act to hold a special convention and bi- annual conference to update our party constitution before the primary elec- tion.
Already the constitutional amend-
ment notices have gone out, but addi- tional notices would follow to capture the changes in the Electoral Act and other areas.
“Today, we will be asking NEC to
approve to roll out these reforms as the party has discussed the issue of zoning through the organs of the party and the informed view is that PDP has entrenched in its constitution zoning and rotation of public offices in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice.”
August 18-24, 2010
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