JONATHAN: AUTOMATIC TICKET AS ANENIH'S GAME-CHANGING STRATEGY

Source: thewillnigeria.com

One quality that puts Chief Tony Anenih ahead of his peers is his readiness to play the oracle. Once he is convinced about any issue that will help move the nation forward politically, he delivers it in the most authoritative manner. In doing so, his pronouncements may not always be popular initially, but they have always ended up as wise counsel. This is true in every party that has been lucky to have him in its leadership, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) whose conscience department he heads as Chairman of its Board of Trustees is not an exception.

Such was the case in May, last year, when he counseled the PDP against a rancorous primary for the selection of its presidential flag bearer for the forthcoming 2015 election. Speaking in Abuja, at a dinner organised by President Goodluck Jonathan for select group of the party's top leadership, Anenih had proposed that the PDP should reward incumbent presidents and governors who perform well in office with an automatic second term ticket. The proposal, he said, would position the PDP to come out of its present challenges stronger and more united.

In advocating an automatic ticket for the President and governors, Anenih had reasoned that an incumbent should have the right of first refusal on such issues. The caveat is that anyone who wants to benefit from it must have performed well in office. While many pondered the idea which is novel in our political clime, others criticized it as undemocratic. Yet to a third group, made up of characters like former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, such a suggestion was downright controversial. To Atiku especially, such a proposal was alien to the PDP and Nigerian constitutions.

The question is, when he made that proposal, was Anenih pandering to the whims of a particular aspirant? The answer, perhaps, is no. As it has turned out, President Jonathan has become the first beneficiary in what may turn out a standard practice in the PDP; the truth is that the larger interest of the party is better served by it. Pertinently, Jonathan also clearly satisfies the conditionality prescribed by Anenih for whoever can benefit from that practice: he must brandish an outstanding performance in office.

Events of the past week have, however, proved Anenih right. The party's influential Board of Trustees which he heads, had taken the lead in giving expression to that visionary proposal by endorsing Jonathan as the party's sole candidate in next year's presidential election. It has since been followed with a resolution passed by the PDP caucus in the National Assembly? Other key organs of the party have taken turns to key into the endorsement, from the women national caucus to the party's National Working Committee, and from the very influential Governors' Forum to the party's National Executive Committee.

The import of this is that challenge to Jonathan's candidature from within the party is all but foreclosed. That it is, indeed, a wise decision can be surmised from the unanimity of support it has received from the party's rank and file, including the tacit endorsement of Jigawa state governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido who has been a lone voice in challenging the suggestions for the reelection of Jonathan. Like the party's former Acting National Chairman, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed said while moving the motion for the adoption of the President as the sole candidate of the party, the action would make the party to go into the next election with a united voice.

Interestingly too, the PDP is not alone in this belief that the country can hardly afford a divisive national electioneering at this period. Faced with doomsday predictions and battling insurgency posed by the Boko Haram, many argue that continuity should be maintained in tackling our development challenges. Outside the party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has also expressed its faith in the President's ability to deliver on his transformation programmes and in sustaining our march towards political stability. At a rally in Awka, Anambra state, a few weeks ago, the party leadership endorsed the President's performance and adopted him as their candidate for the 2015 election.

The gains of speaking with one voice, as far as the 2015 presidential election is concerned, cannot be over-emphasized. It may not have happened before. However, the ruling party has never, before now, faced the kind of challenges confronting it presently. The political situation today is markedly different from that of 2003 when then President Olusegun Obasanjo faced a debilitating and fractious internal contest for the party ticket in 1999 and 2003. Though he eventually prevailed, the contest left the party weaker and it was only able to retain its dominance because of weak opposition.

Times have since changed. The PDP is still the dominant party but it is being seriously challenged by the All Progressives Congress (APC), an amalgam of four opposition political parties threatening to cut the party to size. Anenih must have reasoned that a rancorous primary will further decimate the party, whereas, the Party requires to win majority votes in 24 of the 36 states of the federation to satisfy the provisions in our electoral law for victory in a presidential contest.

In canvassing an open contest, Atiku had said adoption would be an unjust policy and a “travesty of democracy”. Nothing could be further from the truth if experiences elsewhere are considered, and the United States offers a perfect example. Within the Democratic and Republican parties, the realization is that intra-party contests for the presidential ticket against incumbents have largely ended with weaker parties or in many cases, a loss in the general elections proper. It was the case with Jimmy Carter and George Bush (Senior), to recall just the most recent incidents. This ultimately resulted in the no-contests against incumbent Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the reason they were resoundingly returned in office for second terms.

Jonathan's superlative performance in key areas of the nation's development further supports the claim that he is deserving of reelection. A few that may suffice here is the marked improvement in the country's power situation and the ongoing revival of the near-moribund rail sector. Through Agriculture, Nigeria is gradually inching towards food sufficiency, generating along the line, millions of jobs along the value chain. While we have also witnessed turn-around in water transportation, it is perhaps in road construction, aviation reforms and transformation of the education sector that he may win the most plaudits.

Like Anenih enthused in his strategic proposal, the PDP as a party should not find it difficult in granting a performing President the opportunity to serve a second term. Now, I believe Nigerians should relate will with the idea of reelecting a man who has, in the past four years, carried their national aspirations with an unmatched sense of responsibility.

Written by Nicholas Ikejiani.
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