Former President Goodluck Jonathan has reiterated his call for credible and committed leaders to emerge and occupy key positions in the People’s Democratic Party, stressing that such strategic decision would help the main opposition party return to government.
The President who spoke ahead of December’s elective convention, while receiving Professor Tunde Adeniran, a chairmanship aspirant, to his office in Abuja, emphasised how important the positions of the Chairman and Public Secretary are to the party. According to him, the chairman and the publicity secretary are “the face and voice of the party”, for which they should be courageous, reliable and above board.
The ex-President said that as an opposition party, PDP needed a competent, reliable, courageous and bridge-building chairman who could also correct and tell a seating president the truth.“We must do the right thing. We must elect a chairman that will run the party democratically.
“We need a courageous chairman that knows that imposition is destructive.
“We need a chairman who by God’s grace if we win election by 2019, when the president makes certain mistakes, he will be courageous enough to correct him.
“We need a chairman that can lead us to victory and sustain that victory,” Jonathan said.
He stressed the need to organise the party well and elect “good materials” that would lead PDP to victory in 2019, saying that PDP could win next general elections if it did the right thing.
“What we need is a person that can give proper leadership for this country, a chairman that can lead us to elect good material for the presidency.
“We need a chairman that will bring the proper change and economic growth for this country.”
He restated that PDP did well from 1999 to 2015, “even though some people came up with propaganda and lies that 16 years of the party in government was a waste.
Jonathan said the government he led was severely criticized for increasing the pump price of petroleum from N67 to N97 at a time that global crude price was going for over 100 dollars.
He said further that the pump price was later reduced to N87 when the price of crude oil dropped “and they attacked us that it was supposed to be lower.
He wondered why those who criticized his administration not talking again now that the global crude oil is about 53 dollars per barrel and the pump price of petrol is N143.
Earlier, Adeniran had said that his visit was to seek Jonathan’s support and blessing, and stressed the need for PDP to get its leadership right.
He said that his ambition of becoming national chairman of the party was not just for the fun of it but to run the party the way it was suppose to be run
