LAGOS SEPTEMBER 20TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force,( NDPVF), Asari Dokubo, has denounced the Kawu Baraje-led “New’ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for asking President Goodluck Jonathan not to contest the 2015 presidential election, describing the demand as “senseless.”
He also asked the members of the splinter group to renounce their membership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, if they were dissatisfied with the way it was run.
Mr. Dokubo stated this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday in Abuja.
The “New” PDP led by its National Chairman, Kawu Baraje, had on Tuesday, met with the PDP lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives, during which they requested that Mr. Jonathan should not run for the presidency in 2015, as it would amount to getting third-term in office through the back door.
Other issues reportedly canvassed by the group, which has in its fold seven governors, were that the National Chairman of the PDP, Bamanga Tukur, should be removed from office; the suspension slammed on Governor Chubuike Amaechi by the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP on May 27, should be lifted; and the party structure in Adamawa State should be returned to the state governor, Murtala Nyako.
The group made similar demands during previous peace parleys with Mr. Jonathan and PDP Elders led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
However, Mr. Dokubo said the governors and their associates were pushing their luck too far by demanding that the president should not contest the 2015 presidential election.
“That is senseless, they are taking their luck too far,” the NDPVF leader, said. “You see, when a man is quiet and appears harmless, don’t push him or you will pay dearly for it. I have always said it that the president ought not to say anything, but to just ignore them.”
Mr. Dokubo, however, said that from his assessment of the development in the PDP, there was really no crisis in the party.
According to him, what was playing out was the normal situation where those in the minority would have their say, while the majority would have their way.
He said, “I don’t think there is any crisis within PDP. You see most times I keep on imagining why people try to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
“In every democracy, democracy is structured in such a way that the majority will have their way, minority will have their say, but minority cannot impose their will on the majority.
“Out of the 36 states in Nigeria some people from seven states move to one camp and not only that, the law is very clear that you cannot belong to a political party that’s not registered by INEC. We are not living in a jungle.”
Mr. Dokubo said there was only one PDP recognized by INEC, noting that its chairmanship position, which Bamanga Tukur currently occupied, was not in contest.
He advised the seven governors and others who belong to the splinter group to quit the party if they were no longer satisfied with it.
“There’s only one PDP and the position of chairman of PDP is not a contest. There is no other chairman recognized by INEC as chairman of PDP and so those who can no longer stay under PDP are free to leave.
“For instance I was a member of the (defunct) Action Congress of Nigeria. When I found out ACN did not represent my aspiration any longer, I left. So you cannot stay to think you can use gangsterism or mob actions.
“You can’t do that and it’s very unfortunate when you are doing that to a sitting president who’s the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces,” he said.
Mr. Dokubo, an indigene of Rivers States, whose governor, Rotimi Amaechi, belongs to the “New” PDP, said he (Mr. Amaechi) could no longer win a free and fair election in the state.
“Rotimi Amaechi cannot win in his own unit, mark this word. I’m telling you, Rotimi Amaechi cannot win a free and fair election, he cannot win. It’s not a prophecy, it’s the reality. Amaechi cannot win one on one in his unit at Ubima, in his ward.”
He denied being a militant, adding that he never benefitted from the allocation of oil blocs, saying “I don’t know anybody who is a militant. I’m not a militant. I don’t know anybody who’s a militant or any militant in charge of oil blocs. I hate the word militant and I hate militants. I always heard some people are militant, but I don’t know them.
“I am as rich as I can be, I can’t say whether I’m very rich or poor, but I know I am able to feed one hundred and ninety something children living in my house.”
Source: Premium Times