Jonathan: ACF hijacked

Posted by admin Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Presidency Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Former secretary of the Political Committee of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed, has distanced himself from the position of the group, insisting that the communiqué did not reflect what transpired at the meeting.

The group had after its Tuesday’s stormy session, came out with a communiqué, signed by its Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, condemning the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s presidential flag bearer for this year’s election.

The group had said “following an extended review of the just concluded primary elections in the country, the meeting came to the conclusion that the process fell short of the expectations of Nigerians as they were thoroughly compromised by an appalling lack of internal democracy within the parties.
“Manipulations, intimidations and other illegalities (were employed). These practices will greatly undermine our democracy and make it almost impossible for otherwise credible people to participate in the electoral process in the future.

“In particular, the ACF is disappointed with the outcome of the primaries election in the ruling party, the PDP. The emergence of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate is legally and morally wrong because it is a violation of that party’s constitution, which clearly requires that under the zoning/rotation formula, a northerner be returned as candidate in the 2011 elections.

“In this regard, and in the light of its principled stand on fairness and rule of law, the ACF rejects the outcome of the PDP presidential primaries.” But Mohammed, who is a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the group, said: “What we agreed on was that the Political Committee should meet and review the whole situation, with a view to taking a stand on the matter. I was therefore surprised when I read in the papers this (Wednesday) morning that we have taken a stand.

“As a member of NEC, who attended the said meeting, we never reached any decision on Jonathan, therefore the communiqué may have been doctored,” Mohammed insists. However, the ACF’s Publicity Secretary, Sani, in his reaction to Daily Sun yesterday, insisted that the communiqué was a true reflection of what transpired at the meeting, adding that the work of the Political Committee was “to liaise with the northern political leaders on the way forward.”

-Vanguardwp_posts