An ensemble of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors led by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Dr Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State Tuesday declared that President Goodluck Jonathan has outperformed all his predecessors in office and urged Nigerians to vote for him rather than be deceived by the ‘security and anti-corruption’ slogan of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.

The PDP governors, who converged on Lagos dismissed Buhari’s reputation as an anti-corruption crusader, describing him as a willing collaborator in the human rights and financial abuses that characterised the Sani Abacha era.

The governors, who took turns to speak during an interactive session with the media and civil society groups, used the opportunity to honour some martyrs of Nigeria’s democracy, including Chief Moshood Abiola, Kudirat Abiola and Shehu Musa Yar‘Adua.

The governors also expressed strong reservations on the use of the card readers as they warned that no single individual should be left out of voting on account of what they described as poor performance of the card readers.

The governors also cited what they claimed as insurgency provoking poverty in APC states as evidence of the poverty of ideas in the opposition political party which they flayed for thriving only on propaganda.

Present at the meeting were Governors Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Usman Dakingari (Kebbi), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) and Bala Ngilari (Adamawa).

Also present were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Ministers of Agriculture and Power, Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina and Professor Chinedu Nebo, respectively.

Governor Aliyu cautioned against voting for Buhari on the ground that he would only serve for four years and consequently cause power shift back to the South in 2019. According to him such arrangement would lead to instability in the system.

He said: “Buhari promised us that he is going to do one term. The implication of that would result in the short-changing of rotational presidency when it gets to the turn of the North. Even as a young man, Buhari was not a good administrator. He allowed his subordinates to steal the show.”

According to Aliyu, Buhari’s emergence as the flagbearer of APC was a consequence of high level corruption perpetrated on the day of the APC primary when a bullion van was used to ferry cash to the event to buy the conscience of delegates.

But this was dismissed by APC spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who described it as a tale created by the PDP to divide one section of the country against the other.

Mohammed said: “The APC will not abridge the right of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to spend the constitutionally-guaranteed two terms as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if elected in the March 28 poll.

“No conditionality, whatsoever, was attached to Gen. Buhari’s candidacy. He won the party primaries fair and square in a globally-acclaimed transparent manner, and he was neither a compromise nor a consensus candidate, hence there is no need for him to make a deal with anyone.

“We are, therefore, telling Nigerians to disregard the tales by the moonlight which some PDP elements are spinning in their desperation to muddle the waters ahead of the forthcoming elections and create disaffection between a section of the country and another.”

The meeting of PDP governors with civil society and the media was heralded by meetings on Monday night where the governors took a decision to launch the blistering attack on the APC, its presidential candidate, and its leading lights.

Opening the occasion yesterday, the PDP Governors Forum chairman, Akpabio, led the audience to observe a one-minute silence in memory of some of Nigeria’s slain pro-democracy activists.

Acknowledging the sacrifices, he said: “Some distance away from here lie the bodies of that great patriot and democrat, Chief MKO Abiola and his wife, Kudirat. They died so that we could breathe the air of democracy.”

Noting what he claimed as the PDP’s sterling role as the unifying body for Nigerians and the only party genuinely fighting corruption, he said: “But, we abhor the politicization of corruption by military veterans.

“We know what Buhari did after he indicted our respected leaders like Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Dr Alex Ekwueme and others for corruption. These military veterans and their cohorts are today still trying to use the same old trick to hoodwink our people.

“Today, General Buhari, like in 1983, is posing as an anti-corruption crusader, even when surrounded by people of questionable means, all in an effort to cajole the electorate ahead of the forthcoming election. Interestingly, the party that is parroting anti-corruption slogans epitomizes corruption in all its ramifications.

“We are aware that some people have complained about the age of General Buhari. But we do not see anything wrong with his age if he thinks he can withstand the rigours of the job.

“But, we are extremely concerned about the age of his ideas. We are concerned that a man who could not take charge when he was in his 40s but rather bequeathed, to historical infamy, a regime named after two people (Idiagbon/Buhari regime instead of one person as has always been the case) cannot take charge at 73 when his health would need constant monitoring.

“We are concerned about the age of his ideas because 50 years after the first coup, hinged on fighting corruption, Buhari is still thinking of using the same subterfuge to deceive us today. We dare not allow anyone to use a 50-year-old trick to destroy our democratic values. We are wiser today.”

The governor also cited what he claimed as contradictory positions by the APC on the Boko Haram insurgency, saying the party has moved between accommodating the group and pushing for its extinction.

“When the Federal Government was contemplating negotiating with the dreaded Boko Haram group, Boko Haram nominated Gen. Buhari as their chief negotiator. The APC is like the man who set his seat ablaze in the theatre, and ran out screaming, ‘fire, fire, fire.’ But God has intervened, and we are defeating Boko Haram.

“Despite the antics of the opposition and others sympathetic to Boko Haram, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and indeed the military have been able to rise to the occasion by decimating insurgents and restoring hope of a peaceful North-East in particular and Nigeria in general.”

Faulting INEC’s preparations for the elections, Governor Akpabio warned that voters must not be deprived of their rights on account of what he described as the failures of the card readers.

“We reassert that on no account should any registered voter be disenfranchised for non-possession of PVCs owing to no personal fault or rejection by faulty card readers.”

Governor Aliyu of Niger State debunked insinuations by Governor Okorocha that some PDP governors were on the verge of defecting to the APC.

“One of the APC governors reportedly said that seven PDP governors are in Lagos to negotiate joining the APC. Any of you conversant with the APC will know that it is not true. We understand that some of us have personal ambitions, have reasons to live, while those of us who are committed stayed in the PDP. I don’t see any reason now why I will join the APC through the back door when I had the chance to join through the front door. All they are doing is propaganda.”

Also speaking, Governor Lamido said the APC was formed out of hate, envy and anger as he said that all the evils so condemned in the PDP were obtainable in the APC. He described the APC as the ‘dreg of the PDP’.

He also flayed Buhari for keeping mute in the face of the onslaught against personal liberty and the common treasury by the Abacha regime.

He said: “Under Abacha’s government that Buhari served, a lot of high profile murders took place and Buhari never spoke against them. Kudirat was killed, Rewane was assassinated.”

He was also watching while our treasury was being looted under Abacha. Buhari never said anything then.”

Also speaking, Governor Mimiko praised the performance of the president whose qualification and doctoral degree he said could not be questioned. He dwelt of the values of democracy which Jonathan portrays at all times.

He said: “We can’t risk having a dictator because no matter how you re-brand a dictator, a dictator will remain a dictator. In the South-West, we have always called for devolution of power and true federalism. We are strong advocates of strong federating units.

“For a very long time, nobody thought there will be a national conference, but President Jonathan made that possible. Irrespective of any division, those who represented the region were our best. For us in the South-West, Jonathan is the man that we will vote for. I want to encourage Nigerians to ensure that the President is re-elected.”

The meeting was the first major attempt by the PDP governors to openly under one roof campaign vociferously for their party. It was well-attended and beamed live on television.