We Can’t Afford to Fail Jonathan Tells PDP Leaders

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Rotimi Akinwumi

29 May 2011

Abuja — President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday directed the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to keep close watch on members of the party elected into various public offices and ensure they perform optimally because the party cannot afford to fail Nigerians who elected them into positions of authority.

On his own part, he declared for the umpteenth time that there is no going back on his electoral promise of good governance to the people.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new PDP national secretariat in Abuja, President Jonathan said the expectations of Nigerians from elected public office holders are very high and the party can only remain relevant and wax stronger if its members meet the yearnings of the people.

He noted that the party might lose face with Nigerians and eventually became a cast away if the party members elected into positions did not deliver on their campaign promises, a development, he noted, the party leaders must prevent by monitoring the activities of members.

President Jonathan used to occasion to dispel speculations that the multi-billion naira edifice is being financed from public coffer, as he insisted that the Secretariat project is a self-help project.

Explaining how the party is sourcing money for the construction, he disclosed that PDP imposed levies on all its elected members and political appointees to raise funds for the proposed 12-storey building.

He thereafter commended the leadership of the National Assembly for ensuring compliance by members of parliament in ensuring that they donate to the building fund as instructed, and for collecting the levy on behalf of the party.

He described the construction of the permanent site as the beginning of realisation of the dream of PDP members to have a befitting secretariat for the party and acknowledged the role of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, late President Umaru Yar’Adua and former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali in the conceptualisation of the project.

President Jonathan emphasised that PDP is making a bold statement in the entrenchment of democracy in the country by plugging enormous resources in the construction of the new secretariat which will also serve as a major revenue earner for the party on completion.

In his welcome address, Acting National Chairman, Bello Haliru Mohammed noted that PDP has become the toast of the Nigerian electorate going by the result of the April general election which was adjudged by both internal and external observers to be free and fair.

“We have proven our capacity to win in a free and fair election. There is, therefore, no doubt that our performance in the 2011 election has increased the profile and credibility of our dear party. We remain the biggest and, I must add, the only national political party in Nigeria.”

The success of the party at the poll, he said, was attributable to meticulous planning, hard work and perseverance.

“We held the most comprehensive and transparent primaries from the ward to the national level. We planned well, we campaigned vigorously in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, while our members everywhere deployed their energy and resources, with utmost commitment, to our cause.

“In doing so, we were merely carrying on the culture of stringent planning and diligent execution of policies and programmes which saw us through the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections. We can now proudly say that we have the right formula to be the winning party at all times,” he said.

The new secretariat is expected to gulp about N12 billion. Over N5 billion was realised at a fund raising dinner last year. President Jonathan was the chairman of the Funds Raising Committee for the project when he was Second-in -Command to late President Yar’Adua while, coincidentally, Vice President Namadi Sambo was chairman of the Project committee that designed the structure when he was still the Kaduna State governor.

The groundbreaking ceremony was witnessed by party chieftains including Vice President Sambo; Senate President David Mark and his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; former Speaker Ghali Na’Abba; Chief Tony Anenih, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, billionaire investor/manufacturer, Aliko Dangoke who last year pledged to donate all the cement required for the construction of the complex; Ojo Maduekwe; all PDP former National Chairmen, with the exclusion of Audu Ogbe.

Prominent among absentees at the ceremony are the out-going Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Obasanjo and all PDP governors.

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