Every political party that he has been part of since I became politically wise has won the election! More, whenever he declared that a particular person would win the election at the centre, he was always dead right! Just a while ago, he declared that Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, would contest the 2015 election! When the three scenarios are added together, it is clear who Nigeria’s next president would be.
“I want the national chairman (Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu) to go home with a word from the (political) father (of President Goodluck Jonathan) that come 2015, Jonathan will run for presidency for the second term,” said Anenih in Calabar, Cross River State, shortly after the euphoria of a quiet 81st birthday surprise celebration in his Abuja home
While some are wondering about the strength of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-South geopolitical zone following the treacherous departure of Rivers Governor, who is increasingly becoming a victim of treachery in his new All Progressives Congress (APC) abode, Anenih, the grandmaster of politics in Nigeria declared that the PDP is waxing stronger in the South-South. “If we continue like this, the load in 2015 will be lighter than the load in 2011,” he declared.
Buoyed by the fatherly declaration, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, said the party would ensure that internal democracy prevailed in its choice of candidates for various elective positions in 2015.
Mu’azu said that the party would not entertain any short-cut or favouritism in selecting the candidates, advising party members and supporters to shun rumour mongering and falsehood because of their implications for party success and stability.
“The opposition has seen that we are winning on all fronts and they are ready to destroy us. Therefore, let us be careful as we are in a very trying time,’’ he said.
And for those who continue to lament that the president was losing grounds in the North-East, words of comfort came from Gombe Governor, Ibrahim Dankwanbo, who declared that the North-East PDP was in full support of Jonathan’s administration.
He may be right, because recently the party caught in its net APC strongman, former Borno Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, and many others are suggesting that the sitting governor of the State was also considering the prospect of going to the PDP.
Dankwanbo said: “I want to assure the people of South-South that we in the North-East are in solidarity with you and the president. I want to assure you that we, the PDP governors in the North East, will work to ensure that President Jonathan returns as president in 2015.”
Politically savvy Muazu has to be credited with the relative peace that has been the lot of the PDP, but Anenih has been a stabilising factor with the absence of quarrelsome leaders like a former president who has been nothing but a nagging distraction.
Anenih it was, who, after taking over as Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, has been traversing the land, meeting unobtrusively with leaders of different shades to forge an agreeable common platform while politicians in the opposition have been doing nothing but beating the drums of war, insulting traditional rulers, and upturning the popularity of their party where they previously held sway.
Toeing the line of Anenih, the South-South governors and leaders issued a communiqué in Calabar where they said: “We acknowledge the giant strides of Mr. President in the area of Education, Agriculture, Health, Tourism, Re-invention of the Railway Systems, Roads and other infrastructure development across the country. It is also notable that there is tremendous focus on economic empowerment of Nigerians.
“In view of his (President) doggedness in pursuing his transformation agenda for Nigeria, the South-South is in full support of President Jonathan’s administration. We therefore, endorse Mr. President for the forthcoming 2015 presidential election so as to continue his transformation agenda which transcends across all spheres of our lives.”
Perhaps, the backing of his field men informed the confident declaration that President Jonathan would contest the forthcoming elections, even though the wisdom of Anenih kept him from declaring, for now, that Jonathan would beat everyone hands down. That is if the opposition APC’s primaries of November would not be its greatest undoing. The sheer volume of animosity, bile, violence, and acrimony is bound to cause it to implode, because no living organisation can have such amount of disgruntled persons and live in an atmosphere of peace.
To compound the character of bellicosity in the opposition, the APC is already treading the treasonable field of politics to say that it would set up a parallel government if it lost elections in a less-than-transparent election.
But PDP’s Olisa Metuh was up to the task when he upbraided the party. He said: “Nigerians need to be reminded that the APC’s understanding of ‘rigging’ is where they lose election. Whenever they win as was the case in Edo, it is free and fair. It is a globally acknowledged fact that shadow or parallel governments have no place in a Presidential system. Therefore, the threat to institute such is nothing short of implementing the agenda to destabilise and collapse the democratic system and institute a reign of anarchy.
“The statement by the APC National Chairman therefore has confirmed our position that the APC is not planning for the 2015 election but an overthrow of a democratically elected government having realised that they cannot and will not win in the general elections.
“The pronouncement confirms that the APC is indeed promoting a Janjaweed ideology and further reinforces the long held suspicion that they have been holding meetings outside the country to enact an Arab Spring as a means to forcefully take over power when it loses in 2015.”
May be Metuh needed not raise citizens blood pressure the way he did because all Nigerians saw what came after the Arab Spring several years after and would readily say a big NO to those trouble makers.
Written by Johnson Momodu.
