APC has failed on campaign promises — Jonathan

Immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, bashed the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government, saying it has not done enough to fulfill its campaign promises to Nigerians.

The ex-president said rather than improve the living conditions of the people; the APC-led government only inflicted hardship and poverty on the nation through harsh economic policies.

Jonathan stated this in his private office in Abuja when a former Minister of Education and contender for the office of the PDP National Chairman, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, led his campaign team to seek his support.

Jonathan went down memory lane on how the APC criticised his administration ahead of the 2015 general elections.

He said the APC leaders who were throwing tantrums at his administration on policies concerning petroleum could not fare better two years after they took over from him.

Jonathan also said Buhari could not stabilise electricity supply as Nigerians still experience epileptic power supply leading to closure of businesses.

Addressing the delegation, Jonathan said: “We need a chairman who is competent and determined to do what is right. PDP has done very well: from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2015. Those who were criticising us; what have they done?

“A litre of petrol is now N145. Electricity supply has not improved; let us select good materials for our elections. We did well and we would continue to defend what we did,” he said.

Jonathan promised to fully engage the government at the appropriate time, saying the PDP must get things right at the next convention, field popular candidates for 2019 and reclaim power in order to deliver good governance to Nigerians.

He said the PDP needed someone of Adeniran’s character as chairman, who would not only ensure that the party regained power at the centre, but also sustained the victory and stood firm in advising the president without fear.

He added that whoever emerged as chairman at the convention should carry everybody along in the scheme of things.

“You (Adeniran) have all it takes to do that. You were my deputy director general in the 2015 elections; and I have confidence in you. This contest is the toughest in the history of the PDP and it is healthy for the party,” he said.

Presenting Prof. Adeniran to Jonathan earlier, a former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, said the APCled government lacked the capacity to mobilise and govern Nigerians effectively.

Adeniran, a Board of Trustees (BoT) member of the party and a former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, said the APC-led government had already prepared grounds for PDP’s takeover in 2019, noting that the ruling party had nothing to offer.