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| Atiku Abubaka |
By: Chuks Okocha
The suggestion by the chairman, Board of Trustees of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, that President Goodluck Jonathan
and governors of the party should be given automatic tickets to contest the
2015 election has drawn flak from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
In a statement last night in Abuja by his media office,
Atiku said such an arrangement was unconstitutional and a “travesty of
democracy.”
The former vice president said he remained opposed to
“consensus arrangement” and “adoption” in the choice of candidates, stressing
that transparent election to produce candidates for all elective offices,
including the presidency, remains the best option.
Recalling his experiences in court to challenge what he
called undemocratic arrangements of choosing candidates by means other than
free and fair primaries, Atiku said the courts ruled that the policy was alien
to the PDP and Nigerian constitutions.
“My position remains that as far as PDP constitution is
concerned, any attempt to change the party's rule to favour the President as a
sole candidate in the event of his willingness to re-contest is
unconstitutional. The contest should be open to all desiring to pursue an
ambition on the platform of the PDP,” the former vice president said.
Anenih had suggested during the “Peoples Democratic Party
family dinner” held at the State House, Abuja, Thursday night that giving
automatic tickets to the country’s incumbent chief executive and state chief
executives “who have performed well” would help to eliminate the rancour and
undue dissipation of energy and resources that often attends primary elections
in the country.
“I do not see anything wrong, if the PDP considers automatic
tickets for the President and its governors who have performed well and are
seeking for a second term.
“It is my view that with the outstanding performance of
President Jonathan in the areas of power, rail and water transportation, road
construction, aviation reforms, education, agriculture, job creation, etc., the
party should not find it difficult in granting him the opportunity to serve a
second term, if he so desires,” Anenih said.
Reiterating his earlier suggestion on the reduction of
election-related animosity in the party, Anenih said, “I did say that, over the
years, our primaries have been the most serious sources of rancour and disunity
in our ranks and that we usually invest so much resources and energy fighting
ourselves in the primaries that should have gone into the larger battle against
our political rivals.
“I had admonished that we could not continue this tradition
of internal warfare and hope that we would have enough energy left to win
elections...
“Soon after my address, I read in the media the positive
reception and reactions to my proposition by some of our members who believed
that one of the ways to do that should be the granting of automatic tickets to
sitting presidents and governors who are seeking their second term.
“I concur with them, provided that the sitting presidents
and governors must have performed creditably with tangible results. The same may apply to performing members of
the National Assembly although they enjoy indefinite number of terms.
“The proposed arrangement would, I believe, help to
forestall frictions and acrimony in the nomination process, in the overall
interest of our party and the nation.”
However, while acknowledging that President Jonathan is
entitled to seek his party’s ticket in 2015, Atiku insisted that the president
should submit himself to an open primary, just like any other party member.
By foreclosing a free and fair process of selecting its
presidential candidate, Atiku said the PDP might be sending the wrong message
to Nigerians about its commitment to free and fair elections in the country.
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