PDP governors accuse Goodluck of betrayal for not honouring their automatic selections Saturday, 11 October 2014 12:22 PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is set for a showdown with the sitting Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors who are accusing him of betrayal by not honouring a pledge to offer them automatic reselection for next years elections. Earlier this year, President Jonathan struck a deal with the governors under which they would be granted automatic selection as PDP candidates in return for them backing his reselection bid. Last month, President Jonathan was returned unopposed as the PDPs sole candidate in next year election, indicating that the governors kept their side of the bargain. However, the PDPs national working committee (NWC) has announced that only President Goodluck is being returned unopposed and the governors will have to face party primaries. This has enraged the governors who have accused the presidency and the NWC of double standards as President Jonathan had benefited from the same consensus endorsement. Some of the governors also said they might ask the partys national convention to revisit the endorsement of President Jonathan by the national executive committee. They are particularly unhappy with party secretary Professor Wale Oladipo, who announced the voiding of the endorsement of governorship, senatorial and other candidates earlier this week. He had directed the governors and state chairmen to cancel such endorsements. With the annulment of the endorsements, some of those affected include senate president David Mark, senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba and several outgoing governors already anointed for the senate, including Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State, Theodore Orji of Abia State, Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State. Second-term- seeking governors affected by the change include Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State the Taraba State acting governor Garba Umar, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State and Henry Seriake-Dickson of Bayelsa State. Those whose governorship endorsements have been voided by the decision include Emmanuel Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu of Ebonyi State and Dr Ali Pate of Bauchi State. One of the affected governors said: “We have discussed among ourselves and such a cancellation of endorsements by the NWC is unacceptable. Whatever is good for the goose is good for the gander, so if the NWC means business, the ban on endorsements should be across the board. Another governor added: “The party should let us subject all nomination processes to state congresses and the national convention. The party should leave the presidential nomination open and the president should seek a second term mandate at the national convention. “Since the beginning of the week, we had suspected foul play when they directed all aspirants to come to Abuja to collect nomination form for any elective office. In any case, I am not bothered because the national secretary , who issued the directive, was not elected by the national convention of the party, so the directive was a product of illegality and cannot stand.” Aware of the governors displeasure, party leaders are trying to put some sort of appeasement package together for them. If the matter is not resolved before the PDPs national convention on December 6, the governors and the president could have turn the event into a battleground. - See more at: nigerianwatch/news/5509-pdp-governors-accuse-goodluck-of-betrayal-for-not-honouring-their-automatic-selections#sthash.HJW30M3f.vZtgmshH.dpuf
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 19:59:47 +0000
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