It Would Be Double Jeopardy If PDP Fields Jonathan In 2015, Says APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday taunted the Presidency for not reading sarcasm into the statement by its national chairman – Chief Bisi Akande – that President Goodluck Jonathan is welcome to join the newly formed party, saying any party that fields the President as its candidate would be committing what it termed ‘political suicide.’

Akande had on Tuesday after the inauguration of APC’s interim national leadership said, “We (the APC) don’t even close our door to the PDP. If Jonathan is tired of the crises in the PDP, he is welcome in the APC.”

The above statement was viewed by the Presidency as a welcome development because it portrayed President Jonathan as the best man for the job.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said, “I think it (the APC’s invitation) is a compliment. What Chief Akande has said in essence is that President Jonathan is the best man for the job.”

But in a telephone interview with the PUNCH, APC’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed faulted the Presidency for not reading the statement credited to Akande before reacting.

According to him, the invitation was not a compliment but an indictment on the President and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for not knowing how to run a crisis-free party.

Mohammed said, “When we say the man (Jonathan) should come and join us, we mean that he should come and see how to run a crisis- free party.

“But unfortunately, his handlers like himself, are unable to read between the lines.

“Fielding President Jonathan will be disastrous and it would amount to political suicide. The PDP itself also knows that it would be a double jeopardy if it fields the President in 2015.

“This is because having lost the moral ground to face the electorate in 2015, the performance of the President since the past years is even appalling.”