President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday unveiled his preference for a two-party state with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and just one other party contesting the 2015 elections.
Addressing the PDP NEC meeting in Abuja the president said that the dominance of the party had forced opposition parties to come together, which he said would help stabilise the polity.
He said: "One good thing that Nigerians should commend PDP for now is that if you look at the evolution of political parties, it is now stable.
Before, when elections are coming, by now you will be hearing about new parties being formed and at a time, the ballot paper was becoming too long, INEC was finding a way of deregistering parties.
"Because PDP has come on very strong, no matter the criticism they are criticising us, they know that we are very strong and they realise that what they need to do is not forming new parties but parties coming together. So, we are helping to stabilise the polity. "We will encourage them to come together the more.
We want a situation where it is PDP versus one. In that case, the polity will be more stable. Even our members will be more loyal to the party because you will have nowhere to go. "So, Nigerians should commend PDP. If PDP were weak, people wouldn’t have gathered together.
There wouldn’t have been any reason for parties to come together to fight PDP. But when you have so many parties on their own they know they cannot face us until they come together then you know that we are formidable. "And PDP will become stronger and no matter the gang up, I don’t see how they can uproot the PDP," he stressed.
The President also assured of a robust economy, adding that top global investors who met with him recently expressed readiness to invest in the nation's economy, which he noted would boost employment and reduce youth restiveness.
He however condemned the spate of violence going on in the country including robbery, kidnapping and ethnic clashes which he said was dangerous for the country.
Jonathan said: "We are all aware of the issues of kidnapping in southern part of the country; the excesses of terrorist groups in some parts of the North and the steps taken by government are known to all of us. "But one key thing sometimes that gets people confused about Boko Haram is this communal conflicts and ethnic cleansing.
It was not so prominent before. "Animosity between tribes has been a part of human society; it has been a part of the history of the human race.
People living together must have disagreement. But this idea of in a minor provocation, the youth will carry weapons and attack and kill massively like what happened in Zamfara State recently, has nothing to do with Boko Haram. "But because Boko Haram is an issue, whenever somebody is killed, everybody says it is Boko Haram.
What happened in Zamfara State had nothing to do with Boko Haram. "It is one area the governors will also be discussing in their meetings. This ethnic rivalry is becoming embarrassing.
Government cannot continue to sit down and allow ethnic rivalry between communities, between different ethnic groups leading to deaths.
"Definitely, if we send soldiers to such places, soldiers carry guns; they don't carry canes; the result may not be too palatable.
So, on our own, the leaders of this country, governors and all of us, we should try and continue to talk to our brothers and sisters that killing is not the best way to resolve conflicts. "As long as we live, there must be conflicts but we should use dialogue to resolve our conflicts."
On what he dubbed "political issues affecting PDP", Jonathan drew attention to the remarks made INEC, which had warned the party of the consequences of not rectifying the problems associated with its 2012 national convention.
He also spoke on the formation of the PDP-Governors Forum, saying "it has helped to stabilise the polity." "Governor Akpabio said it all that at the beginning, there was no need for PDP-GF but now that we have reduced in number to 23, definitely, this should be the least. We cannot shrink below this level. We must build up," he stressed.
He emphasized that the PDP needed to have the forum "because we have realised that some of the other political parties, their governors used to meet before coming for general meetings.
But PDP being the elephant among them did not really bother much. But over the period, we have realised that there is the need for them to also meet because politics is politics. Politics is a game of interest. "I believe that even in local politics, interest matters so much.
There is no permanent friend; no permanent enemy but permanent interest and as long as people have different interest, there must be disagreement".
