President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday called on political leaders in the country to make the welfare of the people the thrust of their policies and programmes.
The President spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State, during a rally to receive politicians who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party.
The rally was also attended by the Vice- President Namadi Sambo; the President of the Senate, David Mark; National Chairman of the PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu; the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; Chairman of PDP Governors Forum
and Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio; Governors Aliyu Babangida, Niger State; and Liyel Imoke, Cross River; Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi; and Minister of Sports, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, among other chieftains of the party.
The defectors include Mr. Dele Belgore, SAN; his supporter, Rev. Bunmi Olusona; Senator Gbemi Saraki; and a former governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressives Change in 2011, Alhaji AbdulRahman Abdulrazaak, among others.
Jonathan said the rally was to unite all the major PDP actors in the state.
He said, "We are here for a unity rally. A unity rally and a freedom rally. Freedom for you, freedom for me, freedom for the Kwara people, freedom for everybody and freedom for Nigeria.
"That is why we are here but when we come for campaign to present to you our candidates, either at the state house of Assembly level, at the governorship level, the House of Representatives level, the Senate level, or at the Presidential level, that time we will also recap what the PDP government has done at all levels for Kwara people.
"Kwara is a PDP. Kwara truly believes in PDP because for now, it is only PDP that can bring liberation.
"We ask ourselves why you get yourself into politics. It is your people that matters in politics and not yourself. If you get involved in politics, you have to think about your people, not yourself. People who think about the people follow the people’s party and PDP is the only people’s party."
Jonathan reiterated the importance of free, fair and credible election. He said the PDP believed in one person, one vote.
According to the President, PDP offers its members level playing grounds to aspire and achieve their ambitions without hindrance and imposition.
He said, "If you get to outside Nigeria and you ask the people, from all over the world, the names of the political parties we have in Nigeria, they will say, ‘PDP and others.’ Because you know it is only PDP that has members in every voting unit in this country. It is only PDP people that can take this country to where we want it to be.
"I say it without any fear of contradiction, it is only in PDP that people like me can come from low level and stand here as the President of this country because PDP is not owned by any individual."
Jonathan also warned against dictatorship and imposition of candidates, saying people’s views and choices must be recognised and respected in democracy.
Sambo said the Federal Government had impacted positively on the people. He stated that the government had implemented and executed many people- oriented programmes and policies, adding that the people would continue to be at the centre of the government’s policies and programmes.
Mu’azu said the PDP had been repositioned, adding that it was willing and ready to receive more members, including those that recently defected from the party. He called on all Nigerians to adhere to democratic practices and assist in nation building.
Mark said Kwara people had taken the right decision by fighting for change. He added that democratic tenets must be observed at all times and claimed that the PDP was the only party where democracy was being truly practiced.
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