As the political atmosphere in the country gathers momentum, a socio- political group Vanguard of Rivers Progressives (VARP) has thrown its weight behind the president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (P.D.P) Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in their current face-off with some aggrieved members of the party. The group commended the transformation agenda and achievements of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan within his short stay in office, describing them as remarkable.
The president of the group Mr. Samuel Joseph who made this known at a recent press briefing after its emergency general meeting on Saturday said the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has indeed impacted positively on the lives of Nigerians and urged him to go for a second term in order to consolidate on the good works he has started.
He condemned those who he said have constituted themselves as enemies of democracy and stumbling blocks in the wheel of progress and called on them to stop their current campaign of calumny and blackmail against the president and the ruling party.
According to the group the recent formation of a dissident faction in the PDP is the height of political rascality, unbridled selfishness, impunity and unconscionable greed for power at all cost even if it means distracting and pulling down the president to have their way. The group equally expressed support for Bamanga Tukur and the PDP leadership which emerged at the recently concluded convention of the party saying anybody who parades himself outside of the leaders produced at the August, 31st convention is an impostor and should be so treated”
On the peace initiative by Obasanjo, the VARP which says it stands for equity and justice described the former president Olusegun Obasanjo as a double dealer who is insincere in his peace plan which the group alleged is aimed at “hijacking the party and scuttling the reelection of president Goodluck Jonathan in 2015”
Continuing the group maintained that “For Obasanjo to insist that Tukur should go and he (Obansanjo) should be allowed to produce the south west PDP officers among other obnoxious conditions clearly shows his intention to hijack the party and truncate the second term bid of our performing president whi every body knows Obasanjo is not favorably disposed to”, while lauding the actions taken by the president and the party to restore discipline and sanity in the party.
Describing Atiku as a discredited and desperate politician who lacks the moral fibre to lay claim to leadership position, the VARP advised those “so called aggrieved PDP members who remain unrepentant in their evil machinations aimed at stopping Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2015 elections to join their like minds in APC or any other party of their choice and leave the PDP alone”
While urging Rivers people and Nigerians to support president Jonathan’s re-election in 2015, the Vanguard of Rivers Progressives condemned the attempt to hoist the flag of the illegal ‘New PDP’ in Rivers state describing the Bro Felix Obuah led POP as the state. ###
