ATIKU-OBI: Accept The Choice Of Peter Obi As Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan tell South-East PDP Leaders.

Atiku & Jonathan.

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has appealed to the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-east zone to accept and support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in his choice of Peter Obi as running mate, to ensure victory for PDP in next year’s general elections.

The former president’s appeal follows a statement issued on Saturday by leaders of the party in the zone stating that they were not properly consulted before Mr. Obi’s nomination was made public.

In a statement addressed to party members which he personally signed, the former president counseled against insisting on obtaining a zonal endorsement for a vice presidential nomination, adding that it is the prerogative of the presidential candidate to select the candidate he believes will help him to achieve his vision and goals for the nation.

Goodluck Jonathan says in his speech,, “I therefore want to directly appeal to my brothers and sisters from the South-east zone who are members of our party to reconsider their position and allow the presidential candidate of the PDP to select a candidate he thinks he can work with to be able to achieve the party’s development goals. Since Atiku has already nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, I am pleading with my party members from the zone to accept his choice.”

“I thank members of our great party for the successful conduct of the primaries for the various elective positions ahead of the 2019 general elections. By holding transparent, peaceful and rancor-free convention and primaries across the country, our party has once more, taken the nation’s democratic exercise a notch higher, in line with our well-established tradition of deepening the growth of democracy in our nation.

“I again congratulate all our candidates for various positions, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was overwhelmingly elected by our delegates as the flag bearer of our party in the 2019 presidential election. The popularity and positive reviews of the exercise across the country is a clear demonstration of national endorsement for the choices we made, going into the 2019 elections.

“The task before us is to build on this firm foundation and momentum by pulling in one direction and working assiduously for the victory of these candidates at the polls.

It is against this backdrop that I appeal for calm and understanding in the South East where my attention has been drawn to the fact that some leaders of our party are openly expressing their discomfort with the reported nomination of former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi as Atiku’s running mate. I am told that some of our leaders in the zone have raised issues with the process of consultation that produced the Vice Presidential candidate.

“I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office. Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government.