Chuks Okocha
29 May 2011
For governors and other officials elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, it may not be business as usual from Sunday when a new tenure of office under the Fourth Republic begins.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who by convention is the national leader of the party, vowed Saturday to personally monitor the performance of the governors and other PDP elected officials to ensure that they deliver dividends of democracy to the electorate.
Jonathan made this known at the groundbreaking of the new national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja, stating, “As the leader of PDP, I shall monitor the performances of all PDP elected officials under my watch,” adding that all PDP elected officials must strive to ensure that they justify the confidence that the electorate have reposed in them.
Also at a pre-inauguration interdenominational thanksgiving service in Abuja Saturday, the president pledged to give Nigerians good governance based on the fear of God as compensation for the great losses the country witnessed after the free and fair elections that everyone commended as credible.
Jonathan said the groundbreaking ceremony showed that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and that no sacrifice is too much for the sustenance of liberal democracy.
The president said the funding for the 12-storey national secretariat of the party was raised from the mandatory deduction of 15 percent from the salaries of all elected members of the party.
With the deductions, according to him, the party will build a party that is independent and where internal democracy can be easily enforced to enthrone discipline.
The president observed that the basic significance of building the party national secretariat was that democracy had been deepened in the country, as PDP has become the first political party in the country to build its national secretariat.
According to him, “This project is made the more significant because it signposts the sustenance of democracy, democratisation of democracy and good governance.”
Jonathan called for the observation of a minute’s silence in memory of late President Umaru Yar’Adua who was instrumental to the building of the party’s national secretariat.
He said when completed, part of the building would be leased out commercially to enable the party generate funds that would make it financially independent.
Earlier, the acting national chairman of the party, Dr. Mohammed Harilu Bello, had described the PDP as the party to beat in Nigeria.
He said: “Today, the PDP stands tall in the constellation of political parties, not only in Nigeria, but in the entire world. We have demonstrated clearly and decisively that we are the party of choice for the generality of Nigerians.
“We have proved our capacity to win in a free and fair election. There is no doubt that our performance in the 2011 elections has increased the profile and credibility of our party. We remain the biggest, and I must add, the only national party in Nigeria.
“We have the largest number of federal and state legislators as well as state governors, and of course, we have produced the president and vice president of this republic.”
Bello added that the party had conducted the best party primaries among its peers and expressed hope that the PDP would continue to consolidate on its achievements.
The 12-storey national secretariat will cost over N11 billion and will have space to accommodate over 350 cars at a time.
Dangote Cement Plc has pledged to donate all the cement needed to build the secretariat complex.
Over N6.5 billion was generated during the fund raising ceremony for the building of the secretariat in 2010.
During the pre-inauguration thanksgiving at the Ecumenical Centre, Central Area, Abuja, President Jonathan noted that it is good governance offered by himself and his team that can atone for the loss of lives and property during the elections.
Jonathan, who noted that from little things happening around the country, transformation had already started and that what the country has to do is to take practical steps to consolidate and be committed to change.
He recalled that he prayed at the National Worship Centre in September last year before he sought for the mandate of the party and that Saturday’s event was a proof that his prayers had been answered, for which he has come to thank God.
Though lives and property were lost following the presidential election, he said that with the transparency that was engendered at the elections, democracy has been deepened and that next time, it will be better that what has taken place.
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