PDP is still the biggest, strongest party- Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remains the biggest and strongest party to beat in the 2019 general elections.

He said that the party’s defeat at the 2015 general elections was a minor and temporary setback which he stressed has not diminished the party’s chances in 2019.

He made the statement on Monday, when he received a delegation of the PDP Strategy and Inter-Party Affairs Committee led by former minister of ‎information, Prof Jerry Gana, in his Abuja residence, after receiving the committee’s report.

Jonathan also called for the strengthening of democratic institutions in the country.

“PDP is still the biggest and the strongest party. Irrespective of what happened in the 2015 general elections, yes, we lost the presidential election but that doesn’t diminish us.

“Every other party still knows that PDP is a leading party.

“Losing the presidency is something temporary. We should be able to get that position back as long as we are able to get our act together. I am happy that you people are working towards that,” he said.

The former president however, advocated the use of more statutory delegates for the party’s primaries to check imposition of candidates.

“Direct primaries is the ultimate, it is the best way of selecting candidates but the greatest  problem society has is how to manage direct primaries.‎

“I will say that if you cannot do direct primaries let us make sure that we increase the number of statutory delegates, people who have held offices in the party at different levels, even if it is the level of counselors,” the former president said.

‎Jonathan added: “I am among the persons who believe that for a nation to grow, the institutions must be very strong, just like you mentioned about INEC. There is no way a nation will grow with weak institutions because everything about politics is about the people, not about the individuals.

“And as long as you are interested in the people, you are interested in the growth of the society, the development of the nation.”

The Gana-led committee also presented their report to the party’s former national chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and former chairman of its Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, despite their resignation from partisan politics.