Jonathan Endorsed as Presidential Candidate of PDP, Mu’azu, National Chairman

The Special National Convention of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in early hours of today,
ratified President Goodluck Jonathan as the consensus
presidential candidate of the party for the February 14,
2015 presidential election.
This came on the heels of a similar ratification last night by
the delegates of the party of Adamu Mu’azu as the party’s
national chairman, Wale Oladipo as the national secretary
and Wole Adeyanju as the national auditor.
The chairman of the convention, former Senate President
Ken Nnamani, who announced the results of the votes cast
by the delegates, said the president got 2,812 votes.
Nnamani commended the delegates and asked the deputy
chairman of the convention Chief Tom Ikimi to read out
the results on a state-by-state basis, adding that the
exercise was hitch free.
Some of the “Yes” votes were as follows: Delta 40,
Bayelsa 99, Katsina 119, Edo 51, Ogun 55, Gombe 74,
Kano 104, Nasarawa 55, Imo 107, Kebbi 83, Niger 92,
Enugu 94, Yobe 20, Sokoto 59, Bauchi 87, Kwara 40,
Kogi 81, Zamfara 51, Rivers 69, Ondo 78, Plateau 68,
Lagos, 47, Borno 47, Cross River 138, Benue 99 and
FCT 27.
Nnamani said having scored more than two-thirds of the
votes cast, the president had been returned as the PDP
consensus presidential candidate for the 2015 election.
Before the president’s endorsement, the party’s delegates
had ratified the appointment of Mu’azu, Oladipo and
Adeyanju as the national chairman, national secretary and
national auditor, respectively, of the party.
Announcing the outcome of the voting process, which led to
their endorsement by the PDP, Nnamani, who
announced the total tally of the votes cast after Ikimi had
read the votes from each state, said Mu’azu got 2,672
votes, 11 votes were voided while eight were cancelled.
Following the announcement of the results, Mu’azu,
Oladipo and Adeyanju took the oath of office.
During the convention, the party also amended its
constitution. Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam
read the motion for the amendment of the party’s
constitution, which was seconded by the Minister of State
for Power, Mohammed Wakil.
Also, the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Victor
Kwom moved the motion for the adoption of the party’s
manifesto for the 2015 general election.
Earlier, Nnamani read out the details and procedures for
the convention, explaining that it was aimed at filling the
existing vacancies and ratifying the presidential candidate of
the party, Jonathan.
“It is not undemocratic that we have only one aspirant.
Others who were aspirants stepped down to support a
single aspirant in the person of President Goodluck
Jonathan,” he said.
He said the convention was in line with Section 133 of the
constitution, adding, “We are going to vote yes or no. To
make it easier, the delegates will use perforated papers of
yes and no and the delegates are expected to tear out the
one that is appropriate
“The results will be announced at state level and later
collated at the national level. The offices that are applicable
in this convention are the national secretary, national
auditor and national chairman.”
He went on to read out the names of the returning and
presiding officers for all the 36 states and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT).
The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), led by a national commissioner, observed the
exercise.
Jonathan and the Vice-President, Namadi Sambo,
Muazu and the Deputy National Chairman, Uche
Secondus had led other members of the National Working
Committee to the convention.
However, PDP chieftain, former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, who has been hobnobbing with the leaders of the
opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) and had just
released his revealing autobiography “My Watch”, in
which he said Jonathan lacked the capacity to rule, was
unsuprisingly absent from the convention.
With the ratification of Mu’azu and Oladipo, both NWC
officials have been empowered to sign the nomination
papers of the PDP presidential candidate and his running
mate before submitting them to INEC.
PDP, like other political parties, has up to December 18,
2014 to submit the names of its presidential candidate and
running mate and other categories of candidates seeking
elective offices.
At 6.10 pm, the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda,
had led the president to the Bayelsa State stand to cast
his vote for the ratification of Mu’azu, Oladipo and
Adeyanju.
Subsequently, other dignitaries went to their various state
stands to cast their votes.
After announcing the outcome of the voting, Nnamani
declared that the votes cast were far in excess of the two-
thirds required, hence the party’s constitution stood
amended.