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APC South East: We Are Not Opposed To Jonathan Running In 2015

The All Progressives Congress (APC) South East zone, on Sunday, reiterated that it was not opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan running for presidency in 2015, … Continue reading APC South East: We Are Not Opposed To Jonathan Running In 2015


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JonathanThe All Progressives Congress (APC) South East zone, on Sunday, reiterated that it was not opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan running for presidency in 2015, as he has the constitutional right to contest.

The party was reacting to the endorsement of President Jonathan as Igbo candidate by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) South-East political leaders, during the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) rally in Awka, Anambra State on Saturday.

Notable PDP Igbo political leaders, including Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Josephine Anenih, who represented Nigerian women in the zone; billionaire businessman, Arthur Eze; former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who spoke on behalf of the South-East caucus of the National Assembly had united in asking the President to contest.

Reacting to the rally in a statement by its spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, the APC South East said that while it was not opposed to the inalienable and constitutional rights of Jonathan to contest, it was “opposed to the scant strategy adopted by ‘Ndigbo-Chop-Sand-Band’ of politicians, who crave to put all our eggs in one basket, foreclose the chances of a president of Igbo extraction and subject the hardworking and enterprising Igbos to perpetual beggarly status.

The statement reads further: “Ndigbo-Chop-Sand-Band drummers are not interested whether President Jonathan performed or not, whether he honoured the promises he made to Ndigbo during the 2011 electioneering campaign nor whether his presidential slot impedes on the chances of our producing a president of Igbo extraction in the nearest future.

“Otherwise, how come that up to date there is no Environmental Impact Assessment, no private sector counterpart funding, only N30b Sure-P-Fund taxed from the people and most importantly, why the 2nd Niger Bridge is not captured in the federal budget, since according to the drummers, Jonathan so loves Ndigbo?

“The Chop-Sand-Band thinks that Ndigbo’s memory is so short to forget that it was His Royal Majesty, the Obi of Onitsha, Agbogidi, Igwe Alfred Nnaemaka Achebe, who in February this year, woke our dear President from deep slumber over the promise he made on the 2nd Niger Bridge; upon which fire service approach of Public, Private Partnership was enacted.

“Or is it not amusing that Professor Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power, one of the drummers, who talked of Grand Expectation Journey (GEJ), couldn’t tell Ndigbo why the Coal project has not taken off-ground and what happened to N927m, N1.7b and N1.1b budgeted for the study survey of Enugu and Gombe Coal in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively? The Revamping of Coal was one of our Grand Expectation Journey, premised on the promise made by Jonathan at South East PDP Zonal rally during the 2011 electioneering campaign, yet he so loves Ndigbo!” APC South East stated.

The APC group added, “In sum, our fear is that the core ingredient of election, which is a referendum on the performance of the incumbent may not prevail, as the Chop-Sand-Band are constructing a scenario where President Jonathan like in 2011, would be allocated millions of votes in the South East, without commensurate performance.”