2019: PDP remains Nigeria’s strongest party — Jonathan

Affairs Committee, led by Prof. Jerry Gana, in his residence in Abuja, yesterday, Jonathan 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 diminished 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, who received a copy of the committee’s report, however, advocated the use of more statutory delegates for the party’s primaries to check imposition of candidates in future elections.

“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 also interested in the growth of the society, and the development of the nation,” he said.