BENIN CITY-THE Secretary to the Edo State Government and political activist, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, described the call for automatic tickets for PDP governors and President Goodluck Jonathan, by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih as satanic and undemocratic.
Ihonvbere who was former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, asserted that “the credibility I have with which I make my comment, is that I was in the frontline of those who fought for this democracy. Whether at the level of the UDFF or the level of JACON, with people like Enahoro, Akinade, Bolaji Akinyemi, Fayemi, Bola Tinubu, Bola Igie and others, this is not the democracy we all fought for.
“That is his (Anenih) style as usual, corruption and contaminating the political process. When they are afraid of competition they look for short cut. It is one way of telling people don’t even bother. But that is not in the PDP constitution or in the constitution of Nigeria. And it does not help democratic development, it does not help democratic contestation, it does not help the strengthening of political institutions. If they have performed, their records will stand for them and they will win.
“In Edo state Oshiomhole performed to the point that across the three senatorial zones, across religious divide, across ethnic divide the support was over whelming. For the first time he did what no go governor has probably done in Nigeria winning in all the local governments in the entire state. So Anenih does not have the locus standi, he does not have the constitutional authority or the moral authority to compromise, to negate, to subvert the option of contestation for Nigeria people.
“ And I think the PDP will be doing themselves a disservice if they listen to that kind of very dangerous undemocratic approach. That immediately tells you that the people he is campaigning for are afraid of competition. They are afraid to test their popularity which is what democracy and the Nigeria constitution calls for. But even if the PDP accepts that, Nigerians will shock them at the end of the day through APC” he stated.