PDP Convention: Save Ijaw Nation Group warns desperate politicians against spreading divisive rumours

The save Ijaw Nation Group (Sing) has debunked the allegations
accusing former President Jonathan of working against the interest of
some Chairmanship aspirants in the forthcoming convention of the
Peoples Democratic Party as false.


SING in a statement signed by its director, Mr. Tony Ile, the group
blamed the claim on some fifth columnists who it said have been
working against the interest of Jonathan by spreading negative stories
in the media against the former President. The group stressed that as
the father of the party, Jonathan is neutral and fair to all
aspirants.

Describing those behind the fake news as divisive agents that do not
wish the PDP well, SING also accused them of spreading falsehood about
an imaginary squabble between Jonathan and Rivers State Governor
Nyeson Wike, “over the issue of who to support at the convention.”

The statement said further: “Their latest ploy is to sponsor some
stories in the media to create the impression that Jonathan is now at
loggerheads with the Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyeson Wike over
the issue of who to support at the convention. They think that by
doing that Wike and other party leaders will begin to have problems
with Jonathan. They forget that Wike is Jonathan’s loyal political son
with whom he will continue to work together for the good of the party,
Niger Delta and the entire nation.”

Below are the details of the statement:

Our attention has been drawn to a fallacious allegation made by a
hitherto unknown group, the South South Coalition for Good Governance
that former President Goodluck Jonathan was mobilizing northerners in
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work against the ambition of a
chairmanship candidate, Mr. Uche Secondus. We believe that those
behind this fictitious group are merely flying a kite meant to sway
the ex-President to openly express his views on the chairmanship race
at the forthcoming convention.

This is a fabricated statement that has to be quickly debunked because
of the likelihood of such lies to begin to wear the toga of reality,
if allowed to stay too long in the public space, unchallenged. The
nation and PDP members had experienced a similar situation in the past
when a false impression was created by some mischievous persons to the
effect that Jonathan installed former PDP chairman Senator Modu
Sheriff in office. This falsehood later morphed into a strange
perception which unfortunately had some gullible party members
believing its possibility, even as it was obvious to all party leaders
that Jonathan had no hand in Sheriff’s emergence as the leader of the
party.

The claim this time is that former President Jonathan is using some
northern leaders to frustrate Secondus’ aspiration to lead the party.
How come they couldn’t mention the name of even one leader that
Jonathan had consulted on the choice of candidates for the convention?
How we wish that Jonathan had such strong northern support he is now
being accused of deploying. If he did, he wouldn’t have dismally lost
the 2015 presidential election in the zone, like he did.

It is obvious that those spreading this rumour are not even smart. If
they were, they would have known that it doesn’t even sound right to
claim that the former President would connive with some people, be
them from the north or south, to plot the downfall of a man he had
helped from his modest position then as a state party chairman to
become a key figure in the national leadership of the party, having
held such key offices as organizing secretary, deputy chairman and
acting chairman.



The truth is that Jonathan has nothing against the aspirations of such
a man who he has helped to groom. It is also true that as a
politician, it is his right to cultivate sympathy for any candidate of
his choice. However, no rational party member expects the former
President to openly endorse any candidate, given that he is the father
of the party who should be seen to be fair to all.

We have to point out that this same fifth columnists, from what we
already know of them, are behind all the negative stories in the media
against the former President. Their sole aim is to put Jonathan in bad
light and cause confusion between him and other leaders of the party.
It is obvious that they are just exploiting the opportunity of the
convention and the name of Secondus, who they do not even support, to
continue their attack on Jonathan, with the main aim of pitching the
former President against the party. There is no doubt that these are
people with evil intentions who do not wish the PDP well.

Their latest ploy is to sponsor some stories in the media to create
the impression that Jonathan is now at loggerheads with the Rivers
State Governor, Barrister Nyeson Wike over the issue of who to support
at the convention. They think that by doing that Wike and other party
leaders will begin to have problems with Jonathan. They forget that
Wike is Jonathan’s loyal political son with whom he will continue to
work together for the good of the party, Niger Delta and the entire
nation.

Those manufacturing the lies should know by now that they have failed,
if their original intention was to pull Jonathan out at this point,
through deception, to openly endorse a candidate for the chairmanship
position. As the father of the party, former President Jonathan will
not openly support one candidate against another. As the father of
the party, we know that Jonathan’s doors are open to all party members
who would wish to either consult him on national issues or seek his
blessings for their aspiration to any office of their choice, in the
party.

This is a period that all loyal and committed members of the PDP
should make sacrifices to encourage the main opposition party to grow
from strength to strength, for the good of the nation’s democracy. For
PDP members who wish to occupy leadership positions in the party, we
urge them to be patriotic-minded as they pursue their interests,
rather than seek to destroy the party with devious rumours and lies.
Those members of the party who take recourse in character
assassination of other members should be reminded that they are
destroying rather than building the party.



From what we know of former President Jonathan, we are sure that he
will continue to play the role expected of him as a neutral father
figure in the party, and never allow crooked politicians who have no
interest in the progress of the PDP to distract him