President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday described his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the “only truly democratic party where everyone is the same and with equal stake’’.
“PDP is the only party that has no owner; it is a democratic group with no landlord and tenant,’’ Jonathan said in his campaign in Jos, Plateau State.
He urged that internal disagreements in the party should be resolved using its machinery, and cautioned against the temptation to defect to another political party over the slightest disagreement.
He said that disagreements arising from primary elections were “normal in every human situation”, adding that political parties usually got stronger after resolving such internal crises and disagreements.
The President commended former Plateau governor, Senator Joshua Dariye, for returning to the PDP after his sojourn in the Labour Party and expressed the party’s willingness to be fair to all.
He said that politicians should take advantage of the freedom offered by the growing democratic culture to embrace dialogue to make for more permanent mutual trust.
He challenged Plateau people to work toward returning the state to its former status as the most peaceful in country, and stressed the need for them to emulate leaders like late Solomon Lar and Gen. Yakubu Gowon.
He promised to make Nigeria a much better place if given a second term, saying that more sectors would enjoy massive intervention as was currently witnessed in the rail, agriculture and power sectors.
“We must collectively fight our problems the way we fought and defeated the Ebola virus that would have been a calamity if it had become pandemic,” he said.