Hold Taraba general election in Abuja, Taraba people tell Jonathan

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

A Taraba socio-cultural group, Taraba Peoples Assembly (TPA) has threatened to boycott the general election or vote out President Goodluck Jonathan over what it described as ‘Abuja selection’ of the state PDP governorship candidate.

 The group in a statement signed by its National coordinator, Martins Andekin also threatened not to vote President Jonathan if he would not uphold democratic principles regarding the conduct of the Taraba State PDP primaries.

 Andekin said President Jonathan berated Taraba State and its people by moving the state PDP governorship primaries to Abuja to achieve selfish political gain of a retired general from the state.

 The group said it’s surprised that President Jonathan and his party are just waking up to obvious facts that its imposed candidate, Dairus Ishaku cannot win a ward in the state nor deliver at the presidential election.

 “It’s not too late, today, Jonathan is no longer visible in Taraba State, and we see a PDP governorship candidate that has no electoral value from his homestead.

 “We see the popularity of President Jonathan diminishing fast because the acting governor, Sani Abubakar Danlandi is working for the APC. He has ensured that a weak aspirant was imposed as PDP candidate. All billboards with President Jonathan’s picture in the state have been pulled down under the new acting governor’s instruction.

 “At no time has the electorate voted against the PDP in Taraba State but we now witness the strongest political party in Africa imposing the weakest governorship candidate in the history of the state politics.”

“If President Jonathan and the PDP are serious about winning any election in Taraba, a popular and acceptable candidate should be fielded. Today the chances of PDP victory in Taraba is floating”

 The group insisted that the Abuja selection of candidates does not reflect the wish of the people in the state including PDP members.

 The group wondered why the Presidency is tied to the loin of a former retired General from the state.

 “We wonder why the PDP could not follow the electoral guideline; there’s no crisis in Taraba State, other political parties held their primaries in Jalingo, our state capital, but the PDP under President Jonathan decided to allocate it ticket to unknown people in the state.

 “Let President Jonathan hold the general election for Taraba State in Abuja since he has reduced the governance of the state to Abuja affairs without the input of residents of the state,” Andekin said.

 The group also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reject the list of PDP candidates from Taraba State, threatening not to participate in the general election if the commission would not enforce its guidelines regarding to political parties primaries.