Jonathan not sincere with National Conference –PPA

The Progressive Peoples Alliance on Sunday explained that it was excluded, alongside 19 other political parties, from the national conference because of its stand that President Goodluck Jonathan was not sincere.

Again, it said, the confab “is  political” and would be dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party.

The party, which had vowed to challenge its exclusion and that of 19 other political parties in court, also faulted the description of the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, as an elder statesman, saying it was all in an attempt to dominate the conference further.

The National Chairman of the PPA, Chief Peter Ameh, in a statement obtained on Sunday by The PUNCH in Abuja, however saluted the decision of two elder statesmen, Prof. Ben Nwabueze; and a former Vice-President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, to play advisory roles to the confab delegates “because they believe that the right thing to do is to pave the way for younger minds to participate and bring fresh ideas to the table as the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable.”

He said, “Our party, PPA and 19 others were excluded from the conference on grounds that the conference is political. Now, I doubt the sincerity of Mr. President. It will also be of interest to members of the public to know that almost all the delegates are card-carrying members of the so-called political parties except delegates nominated by professional bodies and judiciary.

“The truth, as it is about the national conference, is that it will be totally driven by political parties and politicians against the backdrop of the fact that the voice of the members of the PPA and 19 other political parties will be shut out in the dark due to their stands on issues bordering on fairness and equity in the distribution of resources commonly owned by all.

“Why do I say so? The President has nominated 25 per cent  of the total numbers of delegates; states controlled by the PDP nominated three delegates each, while the party nominated two and the PDP national chairman coming as “elder statesman”, putting the total number of delegates by the PDP as a party of almost 150 delegates. A party is expected to nominate two, while states controlled by the All Peoples Congress nominated three each, making the total number of the APC  delegates 56,” he stated.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance as a party, he said, nominated two, and states controlled by it also nominated three delegates, putting the total number of their nominations at five delegates. Labour Party, he said, has five delegates and Accord Party, two delegates.

The PPA chairman said, “The overall number of delegates nominated by  five political parties is summed up to 218 delegates, while 20 political parties have none, and you say this is fair and that the conference is not political?

“Let us stop lying to ourselves. The conference is totally political because almost half of the numbers of delegates will be coming from political parties, as no governor will nominate non-political party members to the conference. As you can see from the list, that is what has happened.

“The PPA has severally condemned the process of selecting delegates to the forthcoming national conference, saying it is not a true representation of the views of the masses, but those of the friends of the governors and Mr. President. Our party expresses its support for the conference as we are not against anything that will foster dialogue among our people.”