The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has through its spokes person, Chief Olisa Metuh, declared that the decision to field former president Jonathan as its candidate in the 2015 Presidential polls was a collective decision of all party stakeholders and that there is no cause to regret the decision.
This came barely 24 hours when Chief Raymond Dokpesi declared that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is apologising to Nigerians over the party’s fielding of former president Goodluck Jonathan’s as its sole candidate for the 2015 presidential contest.
According to Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement issued yesterday against the statement made by Chief Raymond Dokpesi as his personal opinion and does not represent in any way an official position of the PDP.
Metuh argued that, “In the first place Dokpesi is not a member of the national executive of the PDP and he can only speak in his personal capacity and his opinion remains personal and does not represent that of the party”.
“The decision to field former President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential race was approved by the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Council (NEC) and the party’s national caucus. In addition, the constitution of party allows a sitting president chance to exercise his personal right to run for a second term if he so desires.
“This is not the time for buck passing or blame game. We are repositioning our party. What we should do is to join hands to reposition PDP based on the report of the Senator Ike Ekwerenmadu report to reclaim the party lost glory. This is what is expected of us all at this time.
On whether the party now regrets its action, Metuh said: “How can you regret a decision taken where everyone was there, the NWC, NEC and the national caucus. What are we talking about? Everybody was conscious of the decision; nobody was coerced into supporting the position”