By Tayo Alabi
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has squashed all conjectures by reaffirming his loyalty to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declaring that he is still a member of the PDP, describing the party “as a friend that carries people along.”
Jonathan spoke at the supreme court victory/ thanksgiving service of Bayelsa State Governor Senator Douye Diri, held at the State Ecumenical Centre, Yenagoa, weekend.
“PDP has been a very friendly party, I am a member of PDP and I know from the beginning till today, it has been a very friendly party, PDP is a party that carries everybody along and we should extend that at Bayelsa State level, that starts it in Bayelsa State so that all those who are in the political process so that at the end of any political contestation for the governorship or any other office, let us work together for the interest of our people.”
The former President advised politicians to reconcile their differences and work together after every political contest and shun politics of bitterness and acrimony, adding that elections should be seen as a political contest and not a civil war.
“If we must change, if we must develop then those of us who are contesting for political leadership must know that politics is not war, it’s not a military coup that at the end of the day, we must all come to support whoever that is there so that we can move our state forward and this nation forward.”
Speaking further, Jonathan said: “Those of us who are in politics we should learn to play politics as politics and not as a war, at the end of every political process let all of us come together and support whoever by divine providence God has made to be there.
“In Nigeria what we know especially at the national level is a change of government through coups. And at the end of that coup whether the coup succeeds or not both parties live as enemies. Sometimes they stay as enemies till they die.
“But our democratic process is recognised by law. So we the modern-day politicians should not begin to practice democracy and contestation to power as if we are organizing a coup. At the end of the political process, we expect that both parties should come together and the winner carries everybody along and leaders that contested the election must know that it was a political process known by law and whoever wins we agree that God gave him that position.
“I want to thank our governor for opening his hands and welcoming every citizen of Bayelsa state irrespective of the political divide. Immediately you win an election you become the governor of everybody and you can’t be governor of only the party you belong.
“There is nothing wrong with a governor or President picking somebody from another party and making him commissioner or minister or any other office in government. At the end of a process whoever emerges serves everybody.”
