Labour Party Adopts Jonathan as Presidential Candidate

Opposes INEC’s card readers for elections

Ademola Babalola Twenty-four hours after the Alliance for Democracy (AD) endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as their preferred candidate for the March 28 presidential election, the Labour Party (LP) yesterday followed suit.

In adopting Jonathan as the party’s candidate, the LP also opposed the use of card readers being promoted for use by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during this year’s general election.

The LP which converged on Ibadan, the Oyo State capital for its National Working Committee (NWC) meeting Tuesday night and followed it up with the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting yesterday, said it was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that there was nothing wrong with the incumbent president retaining the office for another four years especially in view of his transformation agenda and purposeful leadership.

The party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Salam, who made the party’s resolution known to journalists at the end of their marathon meetings, also supported the use of military for the forthcoming elections.

Salam noted that going by the youthful age that is in the majority in the country, General Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is too old to rule the country, noting that “for this reason, the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan remains a better option for Nigeria especially when placed side by side with the retired general.”

On the use of card readers, Salam said “the nation is not ready for this technology now, during the Osun and Ekiti elections, Prof. Atahiru Jega categorically stated that the card readers cannot be used for very sensitive elections like that of Osun and Ekiti.

“In our own view of election sensitivity, the presidential election is more sensitive and crucial and we cannot do anything capable of causing confusion and therefore it should not be used.”

Salam however supported the deployment of military personnel during the general election.

“I want to state emphatically, that the deployment of military personnel to provide security at 2015 polls cannot be overemphasised. We are in a state of war; considering the security challenges facing the nation now, it is important and fundamental that the military be deployed to ensure peaceful elections and protection of lives of electoral officials and party agents during elections. The presence of the security personnel at strategic locations on election day would curtail the issue of rigging and snatching of electoral materials.”

The LP governorship candidate in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru in his own opinion also warned against the usage of card readers without proper arrangement for this year’s general election.

Ogboru, who spoke with journalists on the sideline during the party’s meeting, said it would be disastrous if the INEC conducts the elections with card readers without the issuance of accreditation certificates to the parties, agents before the commencement of the elections.

According to him, “if the general election is going to be credible and accepted by other nations, the INEC has to first of all collate the result of the people that are accredited and make a print out available to the agents of political parties.

Save for the timing of its usage, Ogboru commended the introduction of card readers into Nigeria’s electoral system, describing it as a great innovation.