Atiku’s visit: Bayelsa PDP faults Jonathan’s position, says ‘we have no presidential candidate yet’

Less than 48 hours after the visit of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared that all presidential aspirants are welcome to visit party elders in the state.
The state chairman of the party, Chief Moses Cleopas, said the party would receive all aspirants “and accord each of them the respect, hospitality and the courtesy they deserve”.
Cleopas was reacting to reports that Jonathan endorsed Atiku during the visit as the party’s presidential candidate.
This did not go down well with some party leaders in the South-South State, prompting Cleopas to issue a statement.
Cleopas said in the statement that the position of the state chapter of the party, as endorsed by the leader of the party, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson, is that the party would receive all aspirants
He stressed that while it was the position of the party to receive and hold consultative talks with all aspirants, the party in the state would not endorse any particular candidate before the convention.
Cleopas noted that the decision of who to endorse as presidential candidate of the party would be collectively taken by the state at the convention.
He said: “The Bayelsa State chapter of the PDP will receive all presidential aspirants under the platform of the party. The party in Bayelsa will ensure that all presidential aspirants are treated fairly with the respect and courtesy they deserve.
“However, it is the position of the state chapter of the party that there would be no endorsement of any particular candidate before the convention.
“The position of the state would be decided collectively and expressed at the convention ground.”
Cleopas said that it was indeed encouraging that people of integrity with the requisite political clout were aspiring to run for the presidency in the 2019 election on the platform of the PDP.
He stressed that the PDP had the strength to wrest political power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019, with its vast spread and visible presence in all the 774 local government areas and indeed every ward in the country.
The party chairman, who stressed that Bayelsa is a PDP state, thanked the leaders and members of the party for turning out en masse to receive Atiku at a very short notice and encouraged them to do same for other aspirants “as they come visiting”.