With these words, President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday formally declared his intention to contest the election to the admiration of jubilant party faithful.
Jonathan made several promises aimed at wooing the mammoth crowd but was reminded by the PDP Governors’ Forum that the road to the February 14 poll would be rough.
Ironically, the declaration took place at the Eagle Square, Abuja, a venue for most national ceremonies which the Jonathan administration had in the past years avoided due to security reason.
The event, which also held under tight security, was condemned by the All Progressives Congress which argued that it should have been solemn considering the fact that the nation was grieving over the bombing of 50 schoolchildren and teachers by Boko Haram a day earlier.
At the declaration ceremony, Jonathan admitted that corruption remained a stain on his administration but promised to eradicate the menace in all sectors of the economy.
Enjoining public officers to live by example, Jonathan vowed that he would bring to justice those who perpetrate corruption in his government.
The President also promised not to victimise anybody who criticised him and his administration.
He said Nigerians’ views under his administration, no matter how freely expressed, would not send anybody to exile or prison.
The President said, “We must continue to hold the tempo all high in our country. I am proud to say that there are no political prisoners in Nigeria today.
“No Nigerian has been driven into exile; no one, and I repeat no one will be driven into exile.
“It is in furtherance of a peaceful participatory and inclusive democracy that I signed the Freedom of Information Bill into law to expand the frontiers of our fundamental freedom.
“Let me reaffirm that under the Jonathan Presidency, your views, no matter how freely expressed, will not send you to prison or to exile.
“I am convinced that I have served my part with Nigerians and it’s now time to look into the future. With your tremendous support, we have collectively done so much in the last three and a half years.
“But to take our country to the next level, there is still more work to be done.
“History has shown that the path of honour of a true leader is not to walk away from his people in the face of challenges.
“We must stand together in adversary and overcome the threat to our development. We must defend our future.”
Jonathan, who called for a one-minute silence in honour of the bombed schoolchildren and teachers at the Government Science Secondary School, Potiskum, Yobe State, insisted that his administration would win the war against terrorism .
He boasted that his administration would defeat terrorists and get the over 200 schoolgirls abducted almost seven months ago by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State freed.
“We will surely get our daughters freed, we will defeat terror. I will do everything humanly possible to end these killings,” he told the crowd that defied the scorching sun in the Federal Capital Territory to attend the event.
He also said his government would not abandon victims of terrorism across the country, adding that N60bn had so far been raised for the Victims Support Fund initiated by his administration.
Jonathan took time to enumerate his administration’s achievements in the power sector, water sector, aviation, education, agriculture, transport, port reforms, health, housing as well as oil and gas.
He promised to do more if given another chance.
The President said Nigeria would not be allowed to go back to the old era where “our terminal buildings were an eyesore, where we were importing food, and where women were deprived of sensitive positions.”
He said he saw a different Nigeria that would take the citizens to the outer space
Jonathan did not make a formal pronouncement on whether Vice-President Namadi Sambo would remain his running mate for the election.
He however held and raised Sambo’s hand while acknowledging cheers from the crowd before delivering his speech.
Sambo had earlier said that having worked closely with Jonathan, he was convinced that he (President) was a blessing to Nigeria.
He said that Jonathan had led the country well with the fruits of his transformation agenda showing in all sectors.
Jonathan arrived at the venue at about 11:40am in company with his wife, Patience; the President of the Senate, David Mark; and some PDP governors.
On arrival , the President went round the arena to acknowledge greetings from the crowd who were entertained by different artistes from all parts of the country.
‘Road to 2015 won’t be smooth’
The Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, who also spoke during the ceremony, said they were of the opinion that the PDP would win the presidential election and 30 out of the 36 governorship seats in the country.
He said, “ Mr. President, we know that the route to 2015 is not going to be very smooth but we are assuring you that at the end of the tunnel, victory will be yours and the PDP.
“We were robbed of three states, but the entry of Ekiti and Ondo states have increased our number. We may end up with about 30 states.”
Akpabio, who is also the Akwa Ibom State governor, also vowed that the PDP would not hand over the country to sponsors of terrorism.
He said, “We will never be intimidated. You (Jonathan) are like David in the Bible. You are fighting all the wars today so that future Presidents in Nigeria will have peace.
“We recognise that. You have taken the right step by building the Almajiri schools particularly in Northern Nigeria; you are building other schools in the South.
“You have decided to take education as a major step to educate Nigerian children so that they will not be misled in the future again.
“Never again will people mislead our children into terrorism; never again will our children succumb to insurgency. We are witnessing something that is totally un-Nigerian and we are saying do not be intimidated. We are behind you.
“Those who are behind you are more than those that are against you. In 2015, all Nigerians are going to tell you that we are behind you.
“The opposition is fighting a selfish war; they are coming to distablise Nigeria. We will not hand over this country to blackmailers; we will not hand over this country to sponsors of terrorism.”
He said the APC had no plan for the country and described it as a blackmailer and agent of destabilisation.
Speaking on behalf of PDP lawmakers, the President of the Senate, David Mark, noted that if Jonathan did not come back in 2015, the programmes he initiated would be truncated.
Pointing out that the PDP was the first to admit that Nigeria had security challenges, he urged the President to bring the issue of terrorism to an end.
The PDP leaders in six geopolitical zones committed themselves to the unity of the country, which, according to them, is the purpose of the declaration.
A chieftain of the party from Lagos State, Chief Bode George, who spoke for the South-West, noted that the choice of the date when Jonathan declared was not a mere co-incidence.
He said the date coincided with the World Amistist Day, adding that the people of his zone would not ignore the power of prophecy by their late leader, Pa Obafemi Awolowo.
He said the late sage had predicted that one day, an Ijaw man would be the President of the country.
Alhaji Hassan Adamu, who spoke for the members of the party in North-East, said that Jonathan had fulfilled his promises of boosting education in the region with the approval of universities in Potiskum and Wukari and connecting the region with rail tracks from Bauchi.
He said the 17 million electorate in the North-West were solidly behind Jonathan.
Also, a former Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili, said the South-South was grateful to Nigerians from other zones for voting for the President in 2011.
Odili said the zone had absolute trust and confidence in the capacity and capability of Jonathan to make Nigeria a better country.
Professor Jerry Gana, who spoke on behalf of the people of the North-Central, described Jonathan as a catalyst for development.
A former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, who spoke for PDP supporters in the South-East, pointed out that the successes recorded so far by the Jonathan administration demanded continuity.
Noting that the “Second Niger Bridge initiated by the President is underway,” he added that the interest of the South-East “is fully captured in the Jonathan Presidency.”
Declaration is insensitive, selfish
– APC
The APC described the timing of the declaration as callous and insensitive.
It said the event was akin to dancing on the graves of all victims of Boko Haram attacks, especially as taken place a day after the bombing of schoolchildren in Yobe State.
The APC, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, said since the President chose to celebrate a national tragedy, Nigerians should also be ready to celebrate his electoral failure next year.
The statement partly read, “Today(Tuesday), the three North-East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are in danger of being overrun by Boko Haram and over 650,000 Nigerians are internally displaced in those states by the insurgency.
“Yet, President Jonathan says he puts Nigerians first. Lies have never worn a bolder face. The truth is that, for President Jonathan, it is Jonathan first, Jonathan second, Jonathan third, Jonathan always.
“When about 60 students were killed in the terror attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in February 2014, President Jonathan never visited the scene to commiserate with the families of the victims.
“When over 80 people were killed in the first Nyanya bombing in April 2014, President Jonathan went dancing ‘Azonto’ in Kano less than 48 hours later. And when almost 300 girls were abducted in Chibok, President Jonathan neither acted fast enough to rescue the girls nor visited the village. His administration even denied anyone was abducted, until 19 days after.
“This President has therefore established a pattern of putting his political interest above the security and welfare of Nigerians who voted him into office.”
The opposition party also accused the President of trampling upon the 1999 Constitution, which makes the security and welfare of the citizenry the raison d’etre of the government’s existence.
It noted that it was time for Nigerians to respond in kind by trampling on his political ambition and sending him back to Otuoke in 2015.
APC wondered what purpose the Safe Schools Initiative of the Jonathan government was serving when over 70 students were killed and more than 100 maimed within a week in two separate attacks targeting schools in Potiskum alone.
The party maintained that the SSI would remain mere tokenism until the fundamental problem of insurgency, which had claimed thousands of lives, was conclusively addressed.
“Mr. President, what Nigerians want is not an isolated Safe Schools Initiative, but a Safe Nigeria Initiative,” the APC said.
The party added that the Jonathan administration had nothing to show to justify its desire to seek re-election, because, its time in office had been marked by a reign of blood, tears, sorrow and the gnashing of teeth by Nigerians.
It wondered how Jonathan could, in all good conscience, even ask Nigerians to re-elect him when he “has wasted” the mandate given to him in the first instance.
The APC argued that nothing showed the President’s incompetence and cluelessness more than the failure of his administration to provide security for the citizenry.
The party said that it was puzzling that more lives were being lost to insurgency at a rate that was directly proportional to the increase in spending on defence and security.
It noted for instance that “From $5.07bn in 2010 to $7.12bn in 2014, the Boko Haram insurgency had fuelled increases in security spending to around 25 per cent of annual national budget.
“In light of the rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP (put at N80.3tn or $509.9bn), the yearly average for 2010-14, which is $6.58bn is equal to 1.3 per cent of the GDP, while the total for the five budget years amounted to 6.5 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.”
The party said instead of the transformation that Jonathan promised Nigerians, he had delivered “transmogrification with unprecedented corruption, runaway unemployment, erasure of hope, total darkness even with millions of naira sunk into the power sector and trains that are grinding their way to a long-forgotten past of locomotives in an era of bullet trains.”
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