Patience Jonathan’s Attitude Cost Us Defeat — PDP Chief

Bayelsa State publicity secretary of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Osom
Makbere, has said President Goodluck
Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential
election due to international and domestic
conspiracies.
Makbere, who is also a lawyer, stated this in
an exclusive interview in Yenagoa on Friday.
He said the divisions in the PDP fold
and the overbearing attitude of the
President’s wife, Dame Patience, also
contributed to the president’s loss.
Giving insight on the failure of the President
at the poll, Makbere said, “History has stated
that no failure, defeat or loss is a product of
a single factor. Jonathan’s loss could be
blamed on a multiplicity of interwoven
causes.
“Jonathan was a victim and target of
international cum domestic esoteric codes
and conspiracies. On the international level,
the passage of the anti-gay legislation led to
criticisms and face-off with the US, and the
West.
“The strides made in the economic sphere,
especially domestic rice promotion,
calculated by the Jonathan administration to
flip economic growth, and boost import
substitution, also negatively alerted the
West. The shift to China for our railway
transformation, and recently, the migration
to Russia for arms and ammunition to
quelling the insurgency also signalled to the
West that Jonathan had started constituting
a self-reliant and dependent nation-state, a
feat seen too tall by the US and their allies in
the West.
“The aforesaid international factors found
room to flourish given the obstinacy and
impudence on the part of Mrs. Jonathan.
The end result of her personal ambition to
plant ‘self-made’ governors triggered face-
offs with some governors.”
Makbere also opined that the All
Progressives Congress will perform
worse than the PDP at the centre.
He said, “I can tell you that this APC
will be worse than the PDP as there is
already imminent fear of implosion.
“In Kano, for instance, the APC got all 40
constituencies. This meant that none of the
PDP candidates were popular enough to
emerge but, the PDP maintained their calm
and stoicism.
“We do not know what the APC wants.
Whenever they win, the PDP congratulates
them, but whenever the PDP wins, the APC
would induce the election observers and the
electoral officers to call for a re-run or
cancellation. That is the zenith of
desperation.”
But Secretary, Bayelsa APC, Mr. Marlin
Daniel, said the statement that APC would
perform worse than the PDP was
misinformed and unfortunate.
He said that APC parades men and women
of proven integrity and impeccable track
records of performance.
He said, “It is obvious Nigerians have seen
the people in the APC. The international
community knows the pedigree of people
in APC leadership. When you go to states
controlled by the APC you will see what is
on ground.
“The President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, is an incorruptible man. So, for
anybody to say that APC will perform
worse than the PDP is a child’s talk, mere
campaign of calumny and propaganda.
“APC is a revolution and nobody can stop it.
God’s hand is in this revolution that is why
the PDP lost despite all the money they
spent to remain in power.”