Senator Wants Automatic Ticket For President Jonathan In 2015 Election
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Pioneer National Publicity Secretary, Senator Aniete Okon, on Thursday said the party should give President Goodluck Jonathan automatic ticket and make him the party’s presidential candidate for the 2015 general election.
Vanguard reports that the senator, who made the call in Abuja, ahead the party’s primary election to determine who its candidate would be, said President Jonathan deserves it.
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Okon, a delegate representing Akwa Ibom State at the on-going National Conference, who said he has examined the nation’s political environment, expressed optimism that there was no vacancy in the Presidential Villa, because of Jonathan’s achievements and the support by Governor Godswill Akpabio-led PDP Governors’ Forum, as well as other Nigerians.
The senator, however, noted that Nigerians have the constitutional rights to contest election but advised any Presidential aspirant to wait till 2019, after Jonathan’s tenure had elapsed.
According to him, in countries with developed democracies, incumbent presidents were given conventional right of first refusal by the political party and that of President Jonathan would not be different.
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“In PDP, The President has the conventional right of first refusal. The party without excluding any other aspirants, must in the manner of universal convention of parties in most democratic realms invite the incumbent to bear the party’s standard in an election on the incumbent‘s record. In the PDP, we believe that Mr. President has more than made the mark. His record, given the distractions posed by the concert of dark intrigues that spawned hydra-headed conflicts and consequential breaches of security that eroded our sovereignty recommends Mr. President to justifiably present himself for re-election. In the PDP, there is no credible aspiration that will be worth a passing glance. We are ready. It is the opposition that has the daunting task of house-keeping to sort themselves and establish something akin to order,” he said.
Okon insisted that President Jonathan deserves to be re-elected, listed his achievements so far to include privatisation of the power sector, construction of the second Niger Bridge, the newly completed international airport in Enugu, revitalisation of the railway transportation system, improved agricultural sector, massive road construction across the country, among others.
It would be recalled that the elders and frontline politicians in Bayelsa State on Thursday, July 31, also urged President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his intention to re-contest in the 2015 Presidential elections.
Source: Legit.ng
