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The director
general of Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Dalhatu Tafida, said
yesterday, in Abuja, that President Goodluck Jonathan will accept
defeat if those challenging him win the primaries of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).

He stated this while reacting to the call by some northern elders for Mr. Jonathan to resign or be impeached.

Mr. Tafida, who
briefed a group of journalists barely 24 hours after he spoke with
others, said the presidential election is not a matter of life and
death, stressing that if any of those aspirants opposing the president
emerge victorious, he will accept the result.

At present, there
are four other presidential aspirants on the platform of the ruling
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) besides Mr. Jonathan. They are former
military president, Ibrahim Babangida; former vice president, Atiku
Abubakar; and former national security adviser, Aliyu Gusau. Others are
the Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki; and Sarah Jubril.

“If the opposition
succeeds, we will follow them. I am been fair to others; if they win,
we shall follow them. Let us not overheat the political temperature,”
Mr. Tafida said.

Preaching the
gospel of peace, the former Nigerian envoy to the United Kingdom denied
plans by the president to influence laid down procedures.

“Why do we want to
manipulate things? God has already decided who will be president. Let’s
give peace a chance. We have passed a stage where power changes hand in
a room where an individual presides. Power must be through open,
transparent elections. We must give equal opportunities to all. A
presidential election is not a game of life and death,” Mr. Tafida
said.

He enjoined all
members of the PDP in the race to remember that “there is politics
after presidential elections, let us be careful.”

Word for the Northern leaders

Warning against
politicizing the October 1st twin bombing in Abuja, the director
general said the incident was a national tragedy, a catastrophe, and a
national embarrassment, and insisted that no matter the grievances, 50
years in the life of any nation comes but once.

He said it was time
to review the state of development in the country with those with whom
it was nearly at par at independence, including Malaysia, South Korea,
Thailand, and South Africa.

According to Mr.
Tafida, over 12 innocent Nigerians died as a result of the bombings,
adding that instead of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), led
by former finance minister, Adamu Ciroma, to be sober, they are trying
to make political gains from the incident.

“While the security
agencies are busy trying to unearth the details of the natural tragedy,
the provocative comments of some of our yesterdays men, laced with
ethnic chauvinism, suggest that they do not mind if Nigeria explodes if
they don’t acquire power at all cost in the 2011 primaries and general
elections,” he said.

Also on Thursday,
the Nigerian Alliance for Credible Leadership (NACL) asked the NPLF to
concentrate on how to unite the country, rather than making
inflammatory statements over the bombing incident.

Call to arm

NACL national
coordinator, Lawal Daku, said at a press conference in Abuja that the
said statements credited to Mr. Ciroma and the deputy director general
of the Ibrahim Babangida 2011 Campaign Organisation, Kanti Bello,
asking Mr. Jonathan to resign or be impeached were uncalled for.

“If people like
Ciroma who had ample opportunity of affecting positively the lives of
Nigerians when they were in power, put the interest of the masses
before their own, we will not be where we are today. We remain in total
darkness the likes of Ciroma put us into.

“It is in this
light that we are baffled at the inflammatory comments of supposedly
statesmen like Alhaji Adamu Ciroma and Senator Kanti Bello. We are
making this clarion call to them not to start fanning the embers of
war,” Mr. Daku said.