No party can beat PDP, Jonathan boasts

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday boasted that despite the intimidation being mounted against members of the ruling party by opposition parties, no political party can beat the Peoples Democratic Party in the coming election.

He said those who had not done anything had been intimidating the ruling party because the party had not been marketing itself.

The President spoke just as the Director-General of his campaign organisation, Senator Ahmadu Ali, said some foreign countries were opposed to Jonathan’s re-election bid because he signed the Anti Same-Sex Bill into law.

They both spoke during the unveiling of the PDP Ward Volunteer Scheme held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“I am convinced that up to this time, there is no party that can beat the PDP. All we need is unity. There is no party that is formidable like the PDP,” the President told the gathering that consisted of all the PDP candidates from the state Houses of Assembly to the National Assembly.

Jonathan said the PDP was not just the largest party in the country but also the only party that had members in all voting units across the country.

He said even if 10 political parties come together, they could not reach the PDP’s level.

While saying that the PDP had done well over time, Jonathan challenged the opposition to match the party on performances of their governors state-by-state.

For instance, Jonathan said only state governments under the leadership of the PDP had been able to provide functional airports in their state capitals.

He also said the number of state universities established by the PDP states were more than those of the opposition.

He however regretted that despite the performance of the PDP, the opposition also intimidated the PDP members even in their (PDP) states.

Jonathan said the party would not allow the opposition to win at the national level.

He said, “They (the opposition) intimidate us to the extent that they intimidate us even in states where we have PDP governors.

“We will not allow those who are not up to us in terms of performance to continue to intimidate us.

“At the national level, we cannot compare our standards with theirs, because they have not had the experience and we will not give them the opportunity because I know they will not do well.”