2015: Why LP backed Jonathan in 2011- Party chair

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Labour Party (LP) National Chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyawu, has said the decided to support President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 Presidential election because it lacked a candidate.

Nwanyanwu, in his speech yesterday during the courtesy visit by the organisers of Finest Girl Democracy Nigeria Beauty Pageant in his office in Abuja, said the Labour Party has no problem with any presidential aspirant with those qualities.

The LP chairman said in 2015, the party will be looking for Nigerians who will take advantage of its manifesto to come and run for the Presidency, adding “we do not create presidential candidates”.

Nwanyanwu, while listing the qualities said such aspirant must include, “any Nigerian that has capacity and is qualified to run and is in a position to prosecute the election.”

He said, “Our support for Jonathan will continue until the end of his tenure because you cannot create something and destroy it.

“And that is why since we are part and parcel of making of President Jonathan, Labour Party will continue to encourage him until his tenure expires. If we have a presidential candidate, we will give it a shot, if we don’t have, the party will decide what next step to take”.

He said that the adoption of President Jonathan in 2011 by the Labour Party was because it did not have a presidential candidate, which made the members to agree that they have to be part and parcel of the making of President of Nigeria then.

“And while we are looking at this, the President himself contacted the party for support. He gave an appointment of which we attended the meeting and gave our nine point agenda from education to security, to unemployment etc.

“So, the NEC endorsed that support and that support was based on the fact that the President humbled himself to contact us for support and he was the only one who came and we considered him and endorsed him”, he said.