A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Chief Samson Chukwu Nnamani has called on the Progressives Governor’s Forum chaired by Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State not to restrict support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to only card-carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but should see it as a national political project that goes beyond party lines and affiliations.
While supporting the Rainbow Coalition put together by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, he said narrowing President Tinubu’s support to only APC members violates the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of association under Sections 39 and 40 of the constitution of Nigeria as amended and should not be encouraged.
Nnamani in a statement he issued in Abuja told the APC Governors not to overlook the distinction between support for a presidential candidate and partisan contests for other elective positions,stressing that cross-party political movement should not be misconstrued as an attempt to undermine the APC.
Nnamani stated that the opposition of the APC Governors Forum against Wike’s coalition seeking to galvanize support for President Tinubu’s re-election cannot be treated as the exclusive responsibility of only APC or designed to compel members of other political parties to abandon their identities, structures or candidates in other elections.
He emphasized that Wike is constitutionally allowed to make his set of choices and mobilize support for President Tinubu regardless his political affiliations, stressing even within the APC , not all card carrying members are under constitutional obligation to support candidates of their party .
According to him, Nigeria’s multiparty democracy allows for multiple options and convictions of voters, stressing that a politician could support a presidential candidate from another party while retaining membership of his or her own party and contesting other elective positions under that party.
He argued that the Rainbow Coalition should therefore be viewed principally as a presidential mobilisation platform, rather than a merger, defection arrangement or attempt to transform the PDP into an appendage of the APC.
Nnamani believes that the FCT Minister has clearly made his stands to mobilise support for Tinubu in the presidential election while allowing the PDP and other participating political parties to field candidates for governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly elections clear and unambiguous.
He said a similar scenario happened during the 2023 presidential elections.
Nnamani recalled that members of the G5 Governors’ Group, led by Wike, supported Tinubu’s presidential bid in 2023 despite remaining members of the PDP and participating in other electoral contests under the party’s platform.
He such developments are clear indications that Nigerians are becoming more politically enlightened and becoming more politically conscious .
Speaking in defense of the former Rivers state Governor, Chief Nnamani said Wike had never presented the Rainbow Coalition as an APC structure or a mechanism for taking over the ruling party, but as a coalition made up of politicians and supporters from different parties who were satisfied with the Tinubu candidature and worthy of their their support in the 2027 presidential election.
He cited Wike’s own description of the initiative as “a platform for other political parties that are pleased with the good works of Tinubu and are supporting his re-election,” and faulted APC Governors position that the coalition will weaken the momentum of the President or the party .
He said: “The Rainbow Coalition is not an APC project, neither is it a platform designed to destroy or weaken the APC. It is a broad-based political mobilisation platform for Nigerians and politicians from different political parties who have decided to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the presidency in 2027.
“Those who belong to the coalition do not, by that decision, cease to be members of their political parties. They retain their identities, structures and political interests, particularly at the state and legislative levels.
“Presidential politics is not the same thing as every other contest on the ballot. A person can support Tinubu for president and still support the candidate of his or her party for governor or the National Assembly. That is democracy,” he said.
Friday Olokor
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