Maku’s Campaign For Jonathan On APGA Platform Okay But… – PDP BoT Scribe

Labaran MakuThe Secretary, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BOT), Senator Walid Jibril, has said the party welcomes former Minister of Information and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Nasarawa State, Labaran Maku, to campaign for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Maku, who held key positions on the platform of the PDP at both state and federals for 14 of the 16 years the party has been in power, recently defected to APGA after he complained of injustice against him in the conduct of the 2014 governorship primary of the PDP, which he failed to win.

He later picked the governorship ticket of APGA, but announced that he will continue to campaign for President Jonathan, who he hailed for a record service delivery in his state of Nasarawa.

Although Jibril, who is also the leader of PDP in Nasarawa, flayed Maku’s decision to defect to the opposition, he said that the party cannot stop anybody on any platform from campaigning for the president’s re-election in February.

“Maku is welcomed to work for Mr. President’s re-election, if he so wishes to. We cannot say he should not campaign for a man who holds the record of providing for the development of his state of Nasarawa”, Senator Jibril said.

The PDP BoT scribe, however, pointed out that the PDP and APGA have clear-cut boundaries in Nasarawa, explaining that the minister’s campaigns for the president should not be mistaken for Mr. Jonathan’s blessings of his (Maku’s) governorship ambition on the platform of another party.

“I am hearing there are rumours that the president asked Maku to join APGA, and that he will support his campaign to win the governorship in Nasarawa. The president is a man of honour; he is a man of integrity. There is no way he will support the election of a governorship candidate of another party when he is the presidential candidate of the PPDP, and his own party is also fielding a candidate.

“PDP cannot work for APGA. Therefore, the president cannot support Maku, its candidate. People should know the difference between the two parties. But like I said, if Maku wants to work for our presidential candidate, he is welcomed. We cannot stop him”, Senator Jibril added.