President Goodluck Jonathan predicted yesterday that those defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) will return on empty stomach.
He spoke in Abuja at the submission of a report on the PDP’s performance in the general elections. Party Chairman Adamu Mu’azu was not at the ceremony.
Dr. Jonathan said: “I encourage members of our party to remain loyal to the party, not to be so disillusioned because we lost the presidential election and decide to go where they think they will fill their stomachs or something. It’s not easy. I have been here for five years plus, you hardly satisfy even 15 per cent of those who work for you.
“So those people running and those already cross-carpeting, they will come back on an empty stomach because they will touch the primary members of their party, before they get to you. They know you are coming because you are hungry, before it will get to you the food will be gone.
“So let us be committed to the party. Yes we will have challenges at the beginning, but surely we will get to where we want to be.”
Dr. Jonathan received the report from the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC)’s Director General, Alhaji Ahmadu Ali, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the PDP is the dominant party despite losing the presidential election.
The Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, noted that the party did not win the presidential election but won peace for the country.
He said: “We didn’t win the elections but we have a leader who made us to win peace. Without peace, there cannot be development.
“There is a lot to be done. We need a very strong and vibrant party to be put in place now. I believe we are on the right path. Let us put behind us those who have betrayed the party and move forward.”
Party chairman Adamu Muazu was absent at the event and no reason was given for his absence.
The president added: “PDP is still the most organised party; it is still the party that is not owned by anybody; it’s still the party that whatever you are you can get to any level with your competences and so on,” he said.
The President said he did not consult anyone before making the phone call to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari even before the final tally of results.
“Yes I did not consult anybody before I made that phone call but I made that phone call on behalf of all of you and on behalf of the PDP.
“I made the pronouncement but some of us are paying the price. Some people pay more price than I do. I know how some of you are already being persecuted and the kind of situation facing you.
“The key thing is that we must continue to unite. As a party we must continue to work hard so that as we go into subsequent elections 2019, 2023 and so on and so forth, PDP will continue to come up strong. Even in the interest of the nation, we need PDP.
“I still believe though we have lost presidential elections, some National Assembly elections, governorship elections, especially in the North, PDP is still the dominant party. Let us not judge PDP by the result of the elections for the presidential elections.”
Jonathan likened the 2015 elections to the civil war which had various accounts written by various people.
“Of course the issues of this 2015 elections will be similar to the civil war because different people gave different account of the civil war. The first book on civil war that I read was My Command by Olusegun Obasanjo, which is his perspectives on what he saw and observed. I recall Ojukwu’s own was Because I’m Involved. If you read it, the dimensions are sometimes tangential to the first.
“If you ask the various observer groups, each will give you a different perspective. Even among ourselves, whenever we talk, ýsometimes I laugh when people draw some of their analysis but by my privileged position I knew a little more about elections than others,” he said.
President Jonathan said countries that sent vessels in case of an urgent need to evacuate their nationals from Nigeria were disappointed because there was nobody to evacuate.
“The country was so tense but everything has gone down and I think that is the most important thing because the conviction is that you must have a country before you can run for an office. Nigeria is a very complex country and you must manage with care.
“So let me thank you all for joining us to carry the cross. Thank you for the various roles you played and I charge you toý be even more committed to the development of the party. Definitely, PDP will become stronger and united,” he added.
Aliý said: “You made the world proud by conceding defeat even when you had several options. You proved to the world that you are committed to your credo that no one’s blood is worth your political ambition.
“By that singular act, you pulled Nigeria back from a seeming pre-determined precipice and you made us proud. While you assuredly lost in the ballots, you won the biggest victory in defeat by that historic phone call.”
“This is the first time in the history of this country that a sitting government has handed over power peacefully to an opposition party after an election. We are proud of you,’’ he told President Jonathan.