President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday emerged from the People’s Democratic Party presidential screening session after about one hour with the panelists, to describe the exercise as “rigorous.” Mr Jonathan arrived at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja at about 12.40pm accompanied by his deputy, Namadi Sambo, state governors, ministers and officials of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation and went straight to the office of the national organising secretary where the screening was conducted. He emerged from the exercise at exactly 1.32pm.
“The exercise was rigorous,” the president told journalists who wanted to know how he fared during the screening. On crisis trailing the party’s primaries across the country, Mr Jonathan said: “Whenever you have a general election in a party as big as PDP, across the states, be it House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, gubernatorial or presidential primaries, there is bound to be disagreement. We have some flashpoints that the party is looking into but, on the average, I think it went down very well.”
Governors who came with the president were Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, Ibrahim Idris of Kogi State and Liyel Imoke of Cross River State. Information and communication minister, Labaran Maku and his petroleum resources and finance counterparts, Diezani Allison-Madueke and Olusegun Aganga, were also among the president’s entourage. The director-general of the Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organisation and former works minister, Tony Anenih, also came with Mr Jonathan.
Atiku, Jibril are satisfied
Atiku Abubakar, former Nigerian vice president and another presidential hopeful, told journalists after his screening that the exercise went well, just as he dismissed speculations that he would be disqualified. Mr Abubakar arrived at the PDP secretariat in a black Lexus jeep at 1.54pm and left at about 3.50pm. His entourage included a former Senate president, Ken Nnamani; former minister of state for foreign affairs, Dubem Onyia; former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Chukwuma Soludo; and former special adviser on women’s affairs to ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Titi Ajanaku.
“I was asked about my return to the party,” Mr Atiku said. “It went well. I was asked many questions. I was asked how would I unite the party. I was asked about the critical comments I made about the PDP in the past and so on and so forth.”
Asked about his impression of the Aminu Wali-led panel, Mr Abubakar said: “I think the screening panel is a good panel.”
On what he would do if disqualified, the aspirant responded: “No, they cannot disqualify me because they don’t have the power to do that. They asked me questions about my person, but they are not a court, they are not a tribunal, they are not a panel of inquiry and they are not competent to do that.”
The PDP’s only female contestant, Sarah Jibril, told journalists after her screening that the “the exercise was detailed and thorough.” She said that the panel asked her why she wanted to be president and questioned her on the sincerity of her ambition, adding that there were other technical and political questions.
Dissatisfied Dutsinma
Another contestant, Sani Aminu Dutsinma, however shunned the screening. Mr Dutsinma, who showed up at the PDP Headquarters at about 4.30pm but declined to appear before the panel, said he had gone to court to seek an interpretation of Section 7.2c of the party’s constitution. In a letter to the PDP national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, which Mr Dutsinma also gave to journalists, the contestant described the screening as a breach of the party’s constitution and other laws. He accused party officers of not adhering to what he called the party’s “policy of zoning and rotation of party and public elective offices.”
“However, should you decide to drop Dr Goodluck Jonathan from the exercise, I will be most willing to participate,” he said.
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