Atiku: Automatic Ticket is Unconstitutional

Atiku Abubakar.

              

 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.

Caption: Olusegun Obasanjo
Presidency: Jonathan Has No Intention of Probing Obasanjo
Muhammad Bello   and Anayo Okolie                
The Presidency  Saturday dismissed speculations that President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to  probe former president Olusegun Obasanjo's regime.

In a statement issued by Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, the Presidency denied recent media reports to the effect that Jonathan planned to probe the Obasanjo administration because of the former president’s constant criticisms of the Jonathan administration.

Abati also condemned a video footage of the Qatar-based global television, Al-Jazeera, which showed the Nigerian soldiers killing innocent civilians in the embattled Borno State under the guise of enforcing the state of emergency imposed on three states of the north-east, saying it was contrived.

He said the emergency rule was meant to protect the lives and property of the citizenry and not to terrorise or brow-beat them.

Dismissing the allegations that the president plans to probe Obasanjo, he  said the president was focused on the urgent tasks of ensuring peace, security and stability across the country with a view to creating the right conditions for rapid socio-economic development. 

Abati said the president would not be distracted from this objective by futile attempts to drive a wedge between him and other respected elders and leaders of his party.

The president has nothing but the greatest respect for Obasanjo’s very notable contributions to national growth and development over many years, he said.

“What is more, President Jonathan regards his administration as a continuation of the unbroken chain of PDP-led governments started by Chief Obasanjo in 1999, which have worked tirelessly to entrench democratic governance and achieve rapid socio-economic growth in the country.

Rather than order a pointless probe of his predecessors, he will continue to do his utmost best to build on the solid foundations for national progress laid under previous PDP administrations.
“Speculations and suggestions of an impending probe of the Obasanjo Administration by President Jonathan are therefore nonsensical and should be dismissed by all right-thinking Nigerians as the product of the fertile imagination of mischievous political jobbers,” the statement said.

On the Al-Jazeera video footage, Abati stated that the president was exercising the powers conferred on him by the constitution with regard to the emergency rule and had directed the security operatives to adhere strictly to the rules, thereby ensuring that no civilian is harmed or killed while carrying out their operations.

He also said the president’s approval of the unconditional release of 50 women and children of the Islamist insurgents, hitherto in protective custody, was a demonstration of the administration's commitment to human rights.

He noted that the military, operating diligently and with the support of the people had secured the freedom of six women and children held hostage by members of the sect, thereby nipping in the bud the unbridled reign of terror that hitherto prevailed in the area before the emergency rule. "This is a process and the government owes it to the people of the North-east to see it through," Abati added.

"The Jonathan administration believes that media reporting of the reality of living in a state of emergency is needed to keep the local and international community well informed and to hold accountable those prosecuting the military operation to help build trust and sustain the public support needed to build lasting peace."

He lamented that rather than assist in the consolidation of the modest achievements of the administration in this regard, "the last two weeks have witnessed mischievous attempts by a section of the media to generate negative propaganda around these operations in the North-east.
"Most recently, a video report by Al-Jazeera yesterday, titled ‘Civilians among dead in Nigeria offensive’ (May 31) sought to put the government and the people of Nigeria in bad light."

Describing the report as “regrettable” and malicious, he said it was an attempt to discredit the incumbent administration.
“There can be no doubt that the Al-Jazeera report of May 31 is in very bad taste," he said.
Abati said the video Al-Jazeera used to buttress its presentation of the massacre of civilians by soldiers was not that of the emergency operation but that of the unfortunate incident in which Boko Haram members killed many in their May 7 attack on Bama.

He also dismissed the television's claim that "the man in uniform shown in the video is a Nigerian soldier," pointing out that the such an allegation "cannot be sustained, because in a war-like theater as we have on our hands, anybody could have been clad in a military fatigue; and we have seen Boko Haram members appear in military fatigues in their propaganda videos."

"Besides, no soldier has left the frontlines since the beginning of the operations. Surely, this type of reporting on a serious national security issue is irresponsible and should be deplored by all," he stressed.

Abati said the federal government was committed to and believed in the professionalism of the Nigerian military, an institution that has served with distinction on many occasions across the region and outside.”