Consensus Candidacy Shameful – PDP Presidential Aspirant

A presidential aspirant in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Abdul Jhalil Tafawa Balewa has described as shameful, the decision of the party to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as a consensus candidate for the 2015 presidential election.

Dr Balewa, son of a former Prime Minister, Balewa spoke in Abuja when the National Association of Niger Delta Students (NANDS) visited him to endorse him as their candidate for the 2015 presidential ticket, asserted that the issue of consensus candidacy was unconstitutional.

“The consensus arrangement is very shameful. We used to blame APC for not having internal democracy but we that have it, if you look at the people who gave the consensus; they have loads of baggage behind them.

“Consensus is not in the constitution of the party. I have been a member of the PDP since 1998 in USA. I am not going to any other party. I will rather insist on growing democratic principles in the party

“I have been very active politically within PDP. I have travelled the length and breadth of this country. I believe I know Nigeria a lot more than anybody else.

“For me, it is not clamour for power to return to the north. I see Nigeria diving into the abyss. I can rescue it and will rescue it,” he vowed.

“I do not know what it is that we are transforming but Nigeria is not moving the way it should. We can have near zero unemployment and improve education and power. There is no reason why Nigeria, so rich in coal, should have this kind of energy problem.”

He pledged, however, to support President Jonathan if eventually wins the primaries.