PDP PRIMARY: Jonathan wins •Defeats Atiku in Adamawa, other states

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan early this morning emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, defeating former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Mrs Sarah Jibril at the party’s national convention, which took place at the

Eagle Square in Abuja.

The build-up to the election suggested that it would be a keenly contested primary but it turned out to be a one horse race, as the president won convincingly in most of the states such as; Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Jigawa, Osun, Benue, Rivers, Taraba, Benue, Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa, Lagos, Ondo, Gombe, the Federal Capital Territory and others.

The former vice-president led in  in Sokoto and Zamfara states.

The voting  exercise, which started a little after 8.00 p.m., continued till 10.07 p.m., while counting started at 10.28 pm. The counting continued till the wee hours of today.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has described himself as a change agent that could bring about the required transformation for the country, telling PDP delegates at Thursday’s national convention to have confidence in him.

Speaking on his achievements in the past eight months in office, as well as his plans for the country if elected as the party’s presidential candidate, President Jonathan told the party delegates at the Eagle Square, that he would not join issues with his main opponent, Alhaji Abubakar, who had raised a number of allegations against him.

Jonathan, who was joined on the podium by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, recalled that he was in office with the vice-president by divine intervention, as he had come into office with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

According to him, “I’m here today with Vice-President Namadi Sambo because the equation has changed. I came in with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, but today, Allah knows best, I would have been with him.”

Jonathan remarked that the nation needed transformation that only good leadership could guarantee, saying that since PDP delegates  needed to vote for one man to lead the effort, they should vote for him.

He stated that he had worked tirelessly with Sambo to improve infrastructure in the country, outlining specific sectors where he said significant progress had been made.

On the energy sector, he recalled that before he came into office, Nigerians used to sleep at petrol stations while the price of the commodity varied in different parts of the country, adding that, today, while no Nigerian has to sleep in petrol stations to get fuel, the price has become uniform in all parts of the country.

He said while the power sector had posed a serious challenge,  his administration was fervently implementing power plan to address the epileptic power  supply, which he observed had improved as a result of government’s concerted effort.

On education, he said his government had a deliberate policy to address what he said was injustice in the distribution of federal universities in the country, noting that while some states had two of such institutions, others, especially in the North, had none.

According to him, that informed his determination of the administration to implement the policy of, at least, one federal university in every state of the federation.

Referring to a recent decision by the government, he said, “I have established more universities in the North.”

He pledged that in the next two years, the whole country would be covered in terms of availability of federal universities, saying that “every state will get, at least, a small, modest university.”

Speaking about the health sector, Jonathan remarked that government would set up six zonal centres of medical excellence working with the private sector, while he noted that his administration had also made giant strides in the transportation sector.

Specifically, he harped on the total radar coverage that had recently been achieved in the country, which had also increased the international rating of the aviation sector.

The president rejected allegations made by former vice-president and presidential aspirant, Abubakar, who had accused him of mismanaging the Niger Delta amnesty programme and the security of the country, among others.

While saying that he would not like to join issues with Abubakar, he said improved security in the Niger Delta had led to increase in the nation’s oil production capacity.

He said he would not dwell too much on the accusations, as he pointed out that the delegates and, indeed, all Nigerians, knew the truth.

Jonathan promised more employment opportunities for the nation’s youths and also pledged to provide a strong leadership that would not let the nation down.

In another development, tight security cordons ushered in the national convention of the PDP which began at about 5.35 p.m on Thursday.

President Jonathan, whose arrival at the venue signalled the beginning of the process, arrived at the Eagle Square, venue of the convention, by 5.30 p.m.

But movement around the Federal Capital Territory was made difficult by series of security cordons, which cut off access to the Three Arms zone, housing the Eagle Square, the National Assembly and the federal secretariat.

There were heavy vehicular movements around the roads adjoining the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) secretariat, as motorists attempted to meander through the remaining thoroughfares excused by the security cordon.

Traffic was slow as hold-ups were witnessed on the major streets around Area 10 and 11 in Garki as well as the Central Business district and Asokoro axis.

Police helicopters were seen hovering around the city to prevent any ugly incident.

It was evident that all abandoned vehicles parked around major hotels were removed days before the presidential primary.

Car parks of major hotels, which were usually jam-packed, were surprisingly fairly occupied, notwithstanding the huge number of customers patronising them.

Sources confirmed that security operatives had mounted surveillance in nearly all the hotels housing the delegates.

The State Security Service (SSS) was also said to have deployed the use of some special equipment after the deployment of surveillance vehicles in strategic locations of the city of Abuja.

Many of the governors, who had gathered delegates from their states at the state lodges in Asokoro shuttled between the Transcorp Hilton Hotel and Asokoro, where the governors’ lodges were located.

While many of the delegates were seen converging in front of the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, others from Kaduna, Zamfara, Oyo, and Ogun converged on Asokoro, where they moved to the Eagle Square.

The two leading aspirants, President Jonathan and former Vice-President Abubakar, spent the early hours reaching out to the delegates in a last minute effort.

Sources, however, confirmed that leaders of the delegates from some states locked away their people from being reached.

However, the release of the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, was said to have ruffled feathers among Oyo delegates, some of whom appeared uncomfortable with the release, but it was learnt that intervention from high quarters led to the compromise that saw to his bail.

Senators were said to have felt slighted that the convention would be allowed to go on while the Senate Leader would be languishing in detention.

Also, the PDP, at its special convention, on Thursday, tactically excused its national chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, citing Enugu High Court order.

An Enugu High Court, on Wednesday, had granted an interim order restraining Nwodo from parading himself as chairman and member of the PDP.

While the convention was on, Nwodo, who was visibly present, was asked to step down and allow the deputy national chairman, Alhaji Haliru Bello, to take over the conduct of the convention.

This followed a motion moved by the legal adviser of the party, Mr Olusola Oke and seconded by the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Usman Bayero Nafada.

-Tribune

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Posted by admin on Jan 14 2011. Filed under Party Politics, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry