President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday
told a gathering of the Peoples Democratic Party leaders in the
Presidential Villa, Abuja that he hardly gets what he looks forward to
in life.
Jonathan, who boasted that no party would
defeat the PDP during the 2015 polls said sometimes, things that he did
not think about are the ones he gets.
The President spoke while hosting members
of the Presidential Declaration Committee led by a former Minister of
Defence, Dr. Haliru Bello, to a luncheon.
The committee which he formally dissolved
during the luncheon was the brains behind his formal declaration on
November 11 in Abuja.
Jonathan said, “In my own life, the
things I look for I hardly get. It’s what I don’t even think about that I
get sometimes. I believe most of you will smile. But collectively,
first and foremost, let us unite the party and work together for our
collective victory.”
He advised PDP’s aspirants at all levels
not to see their aspirations as a do-or-die affair because the world
does not begin or end with the offices they are aspiring for.
The President said even if somebody blocked them from getting to the office, God might be preparing something better for them.
Jonathan disclosed that he was taking
note of happenings in some states ahead of the elections and would
compensate some aspirants.
He said, “Let me use this unique
opportunity to plead with all of us who are aspiring for electoral
offices that the world does not begin and end with the office you are
looking for.
“Sometimes, you would be looking for an
office, you may not be able to get it for one reason or the other. Let
us say somebody blocked you, so be it, let somebody block you.
“But if God wants something better for you, even after that blocking, you will get something else.
“I plead with all of us that we should
not play the do-or-die, except I get it, let the party sink. We are
taking inventory of all what is happening in all the states and I
promise that we will try and use as many people as possible.
“There are challenges in some states.
People may deliberately block you. You may even be the best candidate in
that particular constituency, but let us move ahead.”
Jonathan also boasted that he had yet to see any party that would beat the PDP in the elections.
He said while opposition parties would
continue to “make noise,” they cannot beat the PDP, which according to
him, does things differently.
The President added, “I’m yet to see
those who can beat the PDP. They will continue to make the noise but
they cannot beat us, because the gap between PDP and others is very
wide.
“The way we do things and the way they do
things are very different; the way we talk and the way they talk are
very different; the way we reason and the way they reason are very
different.
“Our commitment to transform this country
and their thinking about Nigeria are very different. And I promise you
my party men and women and indeed all Nigerians that with your support,
collectively we must move this country to where we want it to be.
“Every day, every week and every month, we must add something; we must change and continue to change.”
Jonathan also thanked all party faithful
for their support before his declaration, admitting that there had never
been a time in the nation’s political history that there had been a lot
of opposition coming up every day.
He said but for their support, his administration could not have achieved the little it had done.
Jonathan said with his endorsement by all organs of the party, he had become “a privileged aspirant.”
Despite the privilege however, Jonathan
admitted that it was only after the party’s national convention that he
could be referred to as a candidate.
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