The re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s presidential election received a boost on Monday as stakeholders of minority groupings in the country converged on Bayelsa State to declare total support for his re-election.
The groups, operating under the auspices of Congress for Equality and Change, CEC, from the six geopolitical zones gathered for its first National Summit, which held at the Banquet Hall of Government House,Yenagoa.
At the summit, Ijaw leader and outgoing coordinating chairman, South South delegation, Edwin Clark, described Jonathan as the symbol of minorities’ quests and victory in a nation dominated by political bigots who claim that leadership was their birthright.
Clark said Jonathan’s emergence as President had rekindled hope in minorities that with unity they could aspire to the highest office in the land. He emphasized that “no man is born inferior to the other”, stressing that “all men are born equal.”
Clark said: “Permit me to note that President Jonathan has become the symbol of minorities’ struggles and victory in this country.
“He epitomizes our collective quest for identity, self-assertiveness and dignity. His emergence has given hope and assurance that once the minorities are united, they shall continue to occupy their rightful place in the political history of this country.”
He insisted that the minorities had continually held the forth “for the integrity, stability, economic prosperity and development of our nation”.
“From our contributions as the food basket and solid minerals of the middle belt to the petro-naira sourced from black gold found in the heart of the minorities of the South South, it is not contestable that we constitute the silent majority and economic backbone of Nigeria.
“It is, therefore, not in the best interest of our country for those who continue to think in the old ways that the conspiracy of the hegemonic coalition of ethnic elites will perpetuate their hold on power”, he stated.
On his part, the national chairman of Congress for Equality and Change and former Senate President, Ameh Ebute, said for about 50 years, minorities did not see rays of power until 2010 when God “divinely gave power to President Jonathan who is from the minority”.
He pointed out that a minority President had brought grace, pride and honour to the country despite political, socio-economic and security challenges.
“As the symbol of minorities, President Jonathan’s emergence has brought freedom, liberty and emancipation.
“Though challenged by years of misrule and economic ruin which he inherited, we are all living witnesses to the monumental strides recorded by his administration”, he said.
Ebute stated that the two-pronged purpose of the summit was to alert Nigerians on the dangerous trend in the ongoing campaigns “whereby tribal and religious sentiments, rather than achievements and performance in office, now becloud our campaigns”.
“The second aim of this summit is to educate and inform all minorities in the country that the February 14 presidential election is not about Jonathan but about the future and political emancipation of minorities in Nigeria”, he added.
In their goodwill messages, former governors of Taraba and Anambra states, Jolly Nyame (North East) and Chukwuemeka Ezeife (South East), Senator Femi Okurounmu (South West), Matthew Atta (North Central), Raymond Dokpesi (South South) and Architect Dauda (North West), assured that minorities from their areas would return Jonathan for a second term.
Declaring the summit open, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson described the summit as “very significant”.
He said that under Jonathan, a new Nigeria devoid of discrimination and intimidation on account of tribe and religion was emerging according to the vision of its founding fathers.
He commended the officials of CEC and their collaborators for holding the summit in Yenagoa, saying a new Nigeria could only be constructed with bodies like CEC, noting that “an unequal nation cannot be sustained”.
Dickson pledged the support of the government and people of the state for the CEC and called for more encouragement and collaboration among the minorities, stressing that his government subscribes to the objectives of the group.
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