A Taraba State socio-cultural group, the Taraba Peoples Assembly, has threatened to boycott the general election and vote out President Goodluck Jonathan over what it describe as “Abuja selection” of the state Peoples Democratic Party 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 was surprised that Jonathan and his party, the PDP, were just waking up to obvious facts that its imposed candidate, Dairus Ishaku, cannot win a ward in the state or deliver at the presidential election.
A statement by Andekin said: “Its not too late, today, Jonathan is no longer visible in Taraba State, we see a PDP governorship candidate that has no electoral value from his home stead.
“We see the popularity of President Jonathan demising fast because the acting governor Sani Abubakar Danlandi is working for the APC (All Progressives Congress). He has ensured that a weak aspirant was imposed as PDP candidate. All bill boards 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 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.
It added: “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 its 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.”
The group also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to reject the list of PDP candidates from Taraba State, threatening not to participate in the general election if the commission would not enforce his guidelines regarding political parties primaries.
The group queried: “For every primary conducted, INEC agents must be present to ensure transparency. Was Attairu Jega at the Presidential Villa where PDP ticket was allocated to puppets of General TY Danjuma against the wish of 750 PDP delegates?”