A spokesman for Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) predicted President Goodluck Jonathan will successfully win re-election on February 14 this year.
Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary of the PDP said former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) party is not an alternative because his party has no winnable message.
Buhari blames the president for perpetuating corruption and making Nigeria unsafe because of the government’s inability to end the Boko Haram insurgency.
This came as President Jonathan Thursday launched his campaign for a second term at a rally in Lagos.
PDP spokesman Metuh said Jonathan explained to the thousands who attended the rally his government’s successes and plans for moving Nigeria forward.
“We feel that President Jonathan should be re-elected because of what he has done. Amid the security challenges that we have in our country, in the face of the global financial crisis we have, he has been able to stabilize the economy of the country. We have promoted [the] private sector, we have dealt with the fuel crisis in this country that used to happen in this country,” he said.
Metuh said the most important quality the PDP is promoting for the re-election of President Jonathan is his democratic credentials.
“We have a president who believes in the rule of law, a president who believes in free and transparent, one man, one vote,” Metuh said.
Metuh said the opposition is to blame for the insecurity in the country because they have not supported the president in the fight against Boko Haram.
“You know that every major country has some form of terrorist activity. It is not something that you eradicate in six months or one year. Say in France, whenever there is a terrorist activity, the entire citizenry will come together in the street to condemn it. They show the terrorists that they are one. In our country whenever we have a bomb blast instead of the opposition joining hands with the president to show the terrorists that Nigerians are one, they keep on issuing damning statements. And there is no unity in fighting the terrorists,” Metuh said.
Metuh said the Jonathan government has been consistent in the fight against corruption.
“Our party, for the first time in our country, created bodies to fight corruption. We are not in charge of the instrument of investigation. The judiciary is in charge of that corruption is being highlight, and it’s because of the effort of Mr. President,” Metuh said.
He said “selfish interest” is preventing the opposition from being concerned about the stability of Nigeria. Instead, they have chosen to constantly condemn the president. But Metuh said Nigerians support the president because they have seen the opposition true.
“Indeed, Nigerians are with the president and the PDP. We will win this election on our program. We will win this election on our performance. In spite of our alleged imperfections, the opposition is not an alternative for the growth and sustenance of democracy in our country,” Metuh said.
