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Tag: PDP

  • Ekiti poll: PDP drops three aspirants, clears 13

    Ekiti poll: PDP drops three aspirants, clears 13

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has disqualified three of the party’s 16 aspirants to the Ekiti State governorship election.

    Senator Bode Olowoporoku, Peter Obafemi and Bosede Dada were screened out of the context by the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba led screening committee.

    Ndoma-Egba, who spoke with reporters on the exercise, said Monday that Olowoporoku was disqualified for failing to provide his tax clearance certificate.

    He also failed to produce a court judgment, which he claimed overturned his expulsion from the party at a certain period.

    Obafemi was rejected for failing to produce his NYSC discharge certificate. Dada was dropped because she could not produce her Secondary School Leaving Certificate.

    She could also not produce evidence of payment of membership dues and that of tax payment.

    Those cleared for the race are: Caleb Olubolade, Ayo Fayose, Dayo Adeyeye, Oluwadare Bejide, Bodunde Adeyanju, Erelu Ogundipe, Gbenga Aluko, Abiodun Aluko, Adewale Aribisala, Adebisi Omoyeni, Oluropo Ogunbolude, Omolara Adubiaro and Ayodeji Ajayi.

    The disqualified aspirants had been given the opportunity to table their case before the party’s screening appeal committee.

  • 20 Tiv farmers killed

    20 Tiv farmers killed

    Twenty more Tiv farmers were killed yesterday by suspected Fulani herdsmen in fresh attacks on Ayilamo, Tombo ward, Gaambe Tiev, home town of Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State.

    All the settlements are in Logo Local Government Area of the state.

    Ayilamo, a settlement of over 400 people on the Abinsi/Wukari Highway was razed by the invaders.

    The hoodlums had, earlier on Thursday attacked Tombo ward, setting ablaze Tse Dzungwe.

    The attack spread to Tse Akpam, Adzege, Uzer and Tse Gbeleve settlements on Friday and yesterday.

    The governor was attending the PDP zonal rally in Minna when the herdsmen struck.

    Residents of Ayilamo apparently tipped off of the impending attack had fled such that when the herdsmen came, resistance was not there.

    The houses of Joseph Tsavsar, special adviser to the governor on Special Duties, Moses Audu, PDP organising secretary, Shiaondo Alaaga permanent secretary in the office of the Head of Service and, Uja Emmanuel of The Nation at Ayilamo were burnt.

    The police in Ayilamo had also fled four days before the town was over- run yesterday by the invaders.

    Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Daniel Ezeala, a DSP, confirmed the incident and said the police are on top of the situation.

  • PDP rally: INEC faults early campaign

    PDP rally: INEC faults early campaign

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said yesterday that campaign by any political party or group of politicians ahead of the lifting of the ban oN campaigns is a violation of the rules governing elections in the country.

    Reacting to complaints trailing the several rallies across the country by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the latest being the North Central zonal rally held yesterday in Minna, the electoral commission maintained that it was illegal for anyone to begin campaign outside INEC guidelines.

    Speaking in a telephone interview, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said the Commission views all forms of early campaign by political parties as contraventions of the Electoral Act.

    The INEC spokesperson said the position of the constitution on when campaigns should start is very clear.

    He said:”INEC will not respond to allegations against individual political parties but our position on early campaigns like this remain the same. For us, it is a contravention of Section 99, sub section 1 of the Electoral Act which stipulates that campaign can only start 90 days to the election and end 24 hours to the election. Any political party or group that does anything aside this is going against the Constitution.

    “We have said that before. We issued a press release on this recently. Our position remains the same irrespective of which political party you are talking about. If we respond to your question about party A, another person will be quick to point out things done by party B which appears to him or her as some form of campaign. That is why we will not respond to allegations against individuals.

    “And let me tell you that it is not for INEC to take an action against such contraventions because there are institutional structures meant to address all forms of constitutional breaches. This is not an exemption. INEC is not a security agency. We can only call on the relevant security agencies to do the needful in this situation.”

    Idowu warned that early campaigns would only heat up the polity.

    “There is no doubt that the tendency by political parties towards pre-emptive electioneering is of concern to us at INEC. Like i said, it is a violation of statutory provisions and this will only heat up the polity,” he warned.

    Before yesterday’s rally in Minna, President Jonathan had addressed rallies in Sokoto, Owerri and Ilorin.

  • Yuguda and his dangerous panacea

    Yuguda and his dangerous panacea

    AS proof that most Nigerian leaders are really not what they are cracked up to be, the new chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Governor Isa Yuguda, told bemused newsmen in Ghana where he went to receive an award that those who advocate the partitioning of Nigeria in the national conference should be murdered. Well, he didn’t quite put it as graphically as that, but what he suggested amounted to murder anyway. “They should be stoned if they advocate secession,” he said with a carefreeness that belittles his office.

    Here is how he put it airily and indecently: “What I have always said is that any person who goes there to talk about partitioning Nigeria should be stoned out of the conference because I believe in the unity of this country. Our parents could not have shed blood to unite this country only for our own generation to decimate the country or partition the land and say we cannot live together. Nobody in Nigeria is greater than the Almighty God, who carved out a country called Nigeria. It is also the Almighty God who put the resources we are enjoying today and nobody should use religion or tribe to break our country. The conference should rather focus on issues that will unite us and not divide us.”

    Mallam Yuguda’s views are not only undemocratic and denigrating; they negate the very essentials of free speech, distort the fundamentals of constitution-making and promote self-help. Mallam Yuguda also unthinkingly embraces President Jonathan’s deterministic theology, now roundly discredited. The president had recently argued that Nigeria, like all other countries, was put together by God, but did not explain why other countries put together by God had fractured over the centuries, nor explain the mysterious fact that God retains the sovereignty to put together and to dismember, using people as instrument.

  • Osun PDP, APC clash over verification of voter registration

    Osun PDP, APC clash over verification of voter registration

    •NCP accuses police, PDP of frustrating agents

    Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ikirun, headquarters of Ifelodun Local Government Area of Osun State, clashed last Friday during the verification of voters’ registration.

    No fewer than three persons have been arrested in connection with the clash.

    It was gathered that the clash between the two parties started at Eweta Ward 07 Ikirun over collection of permanent voter’s cards.

    The Akirun of Ikirun, Oba Rauf Olayiwola, was implicated in the crisis by the PDP but the monarch denied any involvement in the fracas.

    Speaking with The Nation, the monarch said he only responded to the call of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area over the crisis.

    He said: “The tension was high when I got there. People dared the police and said they were ready to be killed but I kept appealing to them because I did not want a crisis in my domain.

    “Even some of these people said they would burn down the police station over the arrests the police made. My intervention had saved the situation from escalating”.

    The monarch dissociated himself from political activities in the town, saying he was a father to all politicians regardless of political parties.

    But the PDP members are blaming the APC and Oba Olayiwola for the clash.

    The Osun PDP chairman, Alhaji Gani Ola-Oluwa, told reporters that a stalwart of the party in the area, Mr. Seyi Oyelade, was injured during the clash while three other members of the PDP, Salaudeen Lukman, Abolarinwa Moruf and Yusuf Wasiu are currently in police custody.

    The National Conscience Party (NCP) also accused the police and PDP of frustrating its agents out of some polling units in Osun State in collection of permanent voter’s cards.

    According to a statement by the Deputy National Chairman of the NCP in the South-West, Alhaji Waheed Lawal, the party’s agents were not allowed to monitor the distribution of the card in some polling units in Ila, Boluwaduro, Ife East, Ife Central and some other local governments in the state.

    Lawal said the NCP agents were accused of forming alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the PDP, lamenting that the police had “ignorantly bought the accusation.”

    The party called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

    The party refuted the allegation that the NCP has formed alliance with the APC on the monitoring of the permanent voters card collection or any other political issue in the state.

  • Jonathan’s campaigns

    Jonathan’s campaigns

    In last few weeks President Goodluck Jonathan, PDP National Chairman, Ahmadu Muazu and a whole armada of ruling party bigwigs have been crisscrossing the country holding political rallies to welcome defectors from other parties, and lay down the marker for what is shaping to be a bruising general election in 2015.

    They were in Sokoto to welcome former Governor Attahiru Bafarawa. In Owerri they celebrated the return to PDP ranks of the likes of ex-Governor Achike Udenwa, Senator Chris Anyanwu and others. The train has since visited Kwara where Jonathan made pointed remarks about the Saraki dynasty. Yesterday, they rolled into Minna for another of such rallies.

    Interestingly, Minna is the home turf of a one-time member of the rebel G-7 governors, Babangida Aliyu. He is the same man who regaled us with tales about the existence of a one-term pact between Northern leaders and the president.

    Speaking a few days before the rally he not only said Jonathan would not make a 2015 declaration in Minna, but also that the president wasn’t actually campaigning.

    Really? Given the speed with which Aliyu repented of his G-7 ‘rebelliousness’ it is not surprising that he would say anything in defence of his new cause. During these rallies Jonathan does not discuss Keynesian economics: he talks pure, undiluted politics. We don’t need anyone to tell us that the president is bending the rules and campaigning even before the race has been flagged off. Thankfully, he has the police on his side.

  • PDP Chair wants 5 APC governors back

    The national Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu on Saturday  made passionate plead to the former five PDP governors now in All Progressive Congress to come back to the ruling party.

    He made the appeal during the north central solidarity and unity rally of the ruling party in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    Pleading to the former governors, the PDP chairman said, “We are willing to welcome them back home and I can assure them that they will be treated equally. Please come back home”.

    Mu’azu also directed the Chairman of Northern States Governors Forum and Niger State governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu to ensure that all the five governors that defected to the opposition party return back to the ruling party.

    According to the Chairman, “if the Niger state governor as the leader of the G7 and Jigawa State governor can remain in the party, I call on Gov. Aliyu to ensure the return of the other five PDP governors who went to APC.

    “Gov. Aliyu saw the light at the end of the tunnel and stayed, your job has not finished, go back and make sure your people (G5) see the light and get them to come back home to PDP,” Mu’azu directed.

    He said the party is better re-positioned to meet the yearning of the electorates and commended them for voting the party to power since 1999 and promised that the country should expect more goodies from.

    President Goodluck Jonathan in his address  described the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the only stable and democratic political party in the continent of Africa.

    Jonathan said that the party since inception has remained constant and focused in the delivery of its mandate to the people of the country.

    He said that the consistency of the party has made it the popular not only in the country but beyond the chores of the country and the continent.

    According to the President, “Since inception PDP has remained the same. We have not changed our name, we have not changed our slogan, we have not changed our logo, we have not changed our colour. We have remained stable. In fact we are the most stable and democratic party in Nigeria and in Africa”.

    Though Jonathan and Niger State governor claimed that the rally was not to campaign for 2015, virtually all the speakers at the rally took turn to assure the President of their support for his re-election bid.

    Party Chieftains from north central led by the Senate President, David Mark and the party’s national vice chairman, Yusuf Ayetogun assured the President of  victory at the polls come 2015.

  • Mass resignation rocks Kano PDP

    THE Kano State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is presently engulfed in crisis, following the sudden resignation of nine out of the 11- members Caretaker Committee. The Deputy Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, Alhaji Shehu Wada Sagagir, in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, disclosed that they have unanimously resigned their appointment. According to him, the decision became necessary in view of recent development, adding that although he chaired the meeting, which the Chairman did not participate, he is in support of the decision reached at the meeting. When contacted, Sagagir declined comments on what informed the decision, promising that it would be made known to the public at the appropriate time.

  • APC denies copying PDP’s manifesto

    APC denies copying PDP’s manifesto

    •Accuses Presidency of voodoo opinion poll

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday it has never in any manner copied the manifesto of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), because it is empty.

    It insisted that the recent poll by KA Research Ltd, Africa Division, which gave it a 10 per cent edge over PDP was more authentic than NOI Polls allegedly traced to the Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala.

    APC accused the Presidency and PDP of practising voodoo with doctored opinion poll.

    The party made its position known at a briefing in Abuja by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, preparatory to the launching of its “ROADMAP” tomorrow.

    He said: “You see, we did not copy any manifesto. Honestly, if anybody is going to copy any manifesto, PDP’s manifesto is the worst to be copied. It should be clear to everybody.

    “In fact, when we merged, Nigerians were yearning for merger on a daily basis. We held news conferences. We raised a merger committee. We set up a manifesto committee led by Chief Audu Ogbeh. It was a beautiful piece of work. But you can see that we have even gone a step further with our roadmap.

    “When our manifesto committee was raised, we needed that manifesto to meet Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) requirements to register. What we have is the roadmap, built on what the manifesto committee did. It will be suicidal for any party in Nigeria to copy PDP’s manifesto. I am not even aware if they have any. If they have, it is not even good. Why would anybody copy them?”

    Mohammed said contrary to insinuations, it was the PDP, which was poaching APC members because it was jittery.

    He added: “I listened to the national chairman of the PDP in Ilorin on Monday and he talked about poaching. We never poached. You see, when we started the process last year, we announced to the whole world that the defunct ANPP, the defunct ACN and the defunct CPC would enter into a merger and become one party.

    “We went into the process as prescribed for us by relevant laws and the constitution. That was the first stage. This is why I keep explaining to people that three things happened in Nigeria, which changed the political landscape. The first was on July 31, 2013, the day INEC approved the merger. From that day, the political calculations, the political permutations in the country changed.

    “The second was exactly a month after when seven PDP leaders and their governors walked out of a convention and PDP has not recovered from that. The final was the day the new PDP joined the APC.

    “So what happened was on the one hand via merger, which was perfectly legitimate; then we had an implosion within the PDP. It was that implosion, which led to the walking out of the leaders, which finally led to their coming to join the APC. We did not poach.

    “Now, it is true that probably if there had been no merger, there will be no such platform. Those governors and those PDP senators would have been probably forced to stay in PDP. This is because there would have been no options for them.

    “Come to the ACN, they will say it is a Southwest party. Go to ANPP, they will say it is a northern regional party. Go to this, they will say it is one man party. Now because our own leaders had the foresight of embarking on this merger, despite the cynicism of everybody, by the time the implosion happened, there was a national platform for them. This is what the National Chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu, is mistaking for poaching. We never poached anywhere.”

    The APC interim National Publicity Secretary said the PDP National Chairman was mistaking defection for poaching.

    Said he: “However, while the law makes it permanently legal, legitimate for a governor, the deputy governor, the president or the vice president to move over from the party upon which he or she is elected to another party, it is not so easy with the legislators.

    “So there is no ceremony if a governor crosses to APC tomorrow. But for a legislator to be able to move, it is expected that there is a faction within your party. Also there are procedures in the House. So, those 44 or 45 senators, who moved from PDP to APC, and the 37 members from the House of Representatives, who moved from PDP to APC were only following all righteousness to inform the House and the Senate President. Obviously, it is because of the faction within the PDP. Even today, I read that Oyinlola said he still remains the authentic National Secretary of the party.

    “So whatever we have done, look at it from the view point of the constitution, from the view point of the law. We have always been law-abiding. They are the ones poaching. We did not poach in any way.”

    On the controversy over opinion poll, Mohammed said APC did not conduct the survey on its own.

    He gave insights into how the poll was conducted and released some indices to show that it was a credible exercise.

    According to him, “for the benefit of the President and his likes who are hard of hearing, let’s give more specifics on the polling company and poll:

    “•The survey has been conducted by KA Research Limited, Africa Division, on behalf of APC Nigeria within the 2015 Pre-Election Polling Programme, between December 9, 2013 and January 12, 2014.

    “•The survey results is based on a Face to Face Nationwide Survey conducted in 36 States + FCT in Nigeria; with sample size of 21.091 interviews; representing 18+ population of Nigeria living in urban and rural settlements.

    “•The survey respondents have been selected using multi-stage random sampling methodology across all Nigerian states; interviewed by experienced and trained local field teams in each state.

    “•The survey results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 0.7 per cent, including design effect.

    “•KA Research Limited (KARL) is a privately-owned international research company, based in Brussels, Belgium and Istanbul, Turkey; operating in more than 60 countries with its own offices, subsidiaries and affiliates in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA Region).

    “•The company specialises in social and political polling; economic and media research in EMEA Region; its clientele includes private, governmental, non-governmental and academic clients, think-tanks; such as World Bank, United Nations, UNICEF, UNDP, Save The Children, USAID, DFID, University of Michigan, University of Maryland, CSIS, Brooking Institutions, National Democratic Institute, ABC News, BBC World Service, NHK Japan, ARD Germany, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Coca-Cola and Burger King Corporations; the company is also cooperating and working closely with major global research and consulting companies in EMEA Regions.”

    The APC spokesman said the release of the poll outcome had created confusion in the Presidency.

    He said: “First, the Presidency was confused. They seemed to think the APC conducted this survey itself. No, they got things wrong.

    “Unlike the PDP, we do not conduct surveys ourselves; instead, we commissioned professionals to conduct our polls. We used experts in the field so that the results are accurate and above reproach. In this instance, our poll was conducted by KA Research Limited, Africa Division. It was the largest survey of its kind ever conducted in Nigeria. I understand how this might have been confusing to the Presidency, since the PDP does not use unbiased, professional pollsters.

    “This explains why the results were such a shock to the PDP. The Presidency suggested we were practising some kind of voodoo. It seems the voodoo is coming entirely from the PDP and its survey company.

    “Second, just who is the PDP/Presidency’s polling company? It is a firm named NOI Polls. And just who is this firm? Do those initials ring a bell? The Presidency’s pollster is none other than Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI), the Coordinating Minister herself!

    “And considering she recently lost track of more than $20billion at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), why would anyone trust any number she ever produced?

    “If there’s anyone practising voodoo, it’s NOI polls. And when you ask the Coordinating Minister about her polling company, make sure to also ask her about the money that’s disappeared, and that the people of Nigeria need their money back!

    “So, now that we’ve set the record straight and we know our survey numbers are the correct and credible ones, let’s review those results one more time:

    “When asked, “If the elections were held today, would you vote for Goodluck Jonathan or the candidate of the All Progressives Congress,” the APC candidate held a 10-point b lead over the President. By a margin of 44 per cent to 34 per cent (with 22 per cent undecided), the APC candidate was the clear national choice.

    “When asked, “In general, do you think things in Nigeria are going in a good direction or bad direction,” by a staggering more than two-to-one margin (50 per cent-24 per cent), Nigerians responded that the country was going in a bad direction.

    “When asked, “What issue would you like the President and National Assembly to focus on most,” an overwhelming majority (60 per cent) said job was the dominant issue that the government should address.

    “And then when asked if they found the following statement convincing or not, “Goodluck Jonathan has done nothing to create jobs, and far too many people are still unemployed.” Decisively, 58 per cent of Nigerians found that argument about Jonathan convincing.

    “Finally, when asked if Jonathan was doing a good or bad job fighting corruption, 59 per cent of Nigerians thought Jonathan was a doing a bad job fighting corruption.”

    Asked what the APC had realised from the poll, Mohammed said it was obvious Nigerians were after change.

    He added: “The message is clear: The nation is going in the wrong direction. The country wants change and would not vote to re-elect Jonathan in part because the number one issue to Nigerians is job and the nation believes Jonathan has no credibility on the issue of job creation.

    “Nigerians also believe Jonathan has done an extremely poor job fighting corruption (that he’s actually closed his eyes to corruption) and that the resources that should be invested in job creation, infrastructure and economic development have been stolen and wasted – undermining the nation’s opportunity.

    “We hope the PDP will also come clean on its own survey company; the fact that it is owned by a serving minister whose initials are used to name the company, and the fact that it has been feeding doctored opinion poll to Nigerians.

    “We have chosen to call the opinion polls they conduct on behalf of themselves and for themselves ‘’incestuous’’. We have nothing more to add!”

  • Fayose, Olubolade disagree on consensus

    Fayose, Olubolade disagree on consensus

    FORMER Minister of Police Affairs and governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ekiti State, Navy Captain Caleb Omoniyi Olubolade (rtd) and former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Femi Bamisile are backing the adoption of consensus option in picking the party’s candidate for the June 21 governorship election.

    Olubolade and Bamisile are of the view that if the PDP candidate is selected through a consensus arrangement, such would help to avoid the rancour, bickering and ill- feelings that usually characterise the process of primaries in any election.

    But former Governor Ayo Fayose and Chief Bosede Dada have kicked against the option, saying it is undemocratic.

    Both the former minister and Bamisile spoke at separate interviews in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Olubolade said he is ready and willing to abide by President Goodluck Jonathan’s earlier advice that the PDP in Ekiti State should look at the option of choosing its candidate through consensus rather than primaries.

    The former minister said: “I believe in consensus because any organisation that wants to make progress, any political party that wants to make progress must listen to the voice of reasoning from the leadership of such party. Once the party’s leadership brings an issue on the way forward, as a good party man, it would be nice for you to work in that line so that all things will work for the good of the party.

    “Having heard from the President on the way forward, I will strictly want to abide by that position and do exactly what will move our party forward. What is important is for us to ensure that internal democracy prevails within the party.

    “When the party (PDP) reveals its position on the way forward, we also have to key into that position. So, that will bring orderliness in the party. Followers will know what to do and we will, in togetherness, work to ensure that the party is victorious. That is why I believe in consensus”, he said.

    Bamisile, who is also the state’s Deputy Chairman agreed that the consensus arrangement would help to avoid disagreements and divisions among members.

    According to him, there is a clear mandate from the party’s national leadership that anybody who wants to run for the governorship election or be considered an aspirant, should first take the bold step of going to pay N11million to the party at Abuja. I can tell you that the party paraded 26 aspirants including myself and 14 of us came together and had a meeting with the President on January 4.

    “During our deliberations, the President informed us that he would prefer that the party should go the way of consensus in choosing its candidates. He advised that we should avoid the over-kill of spending so much money in primaries and the rancour that comes out of primaries.

    “Sincerely, most of us strongly believe in that process. I have done about four elections in the state and all of them were through primaries but in circumstances like this- you are in opposition in your state; you should look for every means to make sure that the processes of selecting your candidates are fair and not too financially engulfing. We should make sure that the processes are suitable to all those involved and that is why I concur with the President on this issue of consensus.

    Fayose and Mrs Dada reminded those canvassing consensus arrangement of the promise of the National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, that internal democracy would not be compromised.

    Chief Dada objected to the plans to anoint a candidate through consensus, saying that it is undemocratic. She added: “I do not want consensus. I have paid for my form and I am ready for the primaries. The Chairman, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, has assured me that there will be primaries in Ado-Ekiti. Also, when I visited the national chairman, he promised that there will be internal democracy in the PDP. Therefore, I will not support consensus”.

    Fayose said the idea of a consensus candidate is laughable, stressing that it underscores the limitations of those behind the option.

    The former governor said that he will face the primaries with courage and boldness, based on Mu’azu’s assurance that internal democracy would be restored in the party.

    Fayose wondered why certain elements were agitating for consensus option, instead of going to the field to mobilise support for their ambition to rule the state. He said while some people have the right to canvass for consensus candidacy, other people also have the right to oppose the option based on reason. Stressing that consensus option is not feasible, he urged the aspirants to exhibit the capacity for popularity test at the shadow poll.

    The former governor stressed: “What we need to do is to go for tender. When you pay the tender fee, you have indicated interest to participate in the deal. The nomination fee is the tender fee. The consensus means that all the aspirants have the collective agreement. But, once some people say they are not for consensus, it is not consensus again.

    “Would they do consensus again at the general election? A man who is not sure of winning the primaries cannot win the general election. I am confident that any body who can win the primary election will win the general election”.