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Automatic tickets for failed senators ‘ll cause PDP failure 


CHIEF Joe Edionwele is the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Secretary (South- South). A House of Representatives aspirant on the party’s ticket for Esan-West/Esan Central/Igueben Federal Constituency, Edionwele in this interview challenges proposals for automatic ticket for members of the National Assembly saying it is only the will of the people that will prevail. Excerpts:
On the decision of the President to give automatic tickets to Senators
It will not stand the test of time because it is the will of the people that will prevail, it is the electorate that will decide who will go back to the National Assembly.
And it is going to be based on your performance and not by arrangement with anybody. And of course, if the President was going to do such a thing, he would have done it in consultations with the elders of the party in their various constituencies.
But as long as that did not take place, I don’t think it will stand the test of time and nobody is going to accept it. It is not just enough to say that you are a candidate and at the end of the day, you may end up not winning.
But if you are a performer, you don’t need to be afraid because your constituencies will on its own elect you.
I think that it is a wrong decision if at all it took place and I can tell you that nobody is going to accept that because, at the end of the day, it is not to be a candidate, you also have to win election. So, we must take our best, the First eleven to contest; people that have character, people that have honour.
And if you are a senator and you performed very well, you don’t know  need anybody to give you a former ticket; you will face the electorate and they will decide and I can tell you that the decision is the will of the people, and not anybody awarding or allocating any ticket to anybody.
And I can tell you that if such is going to take place at all, the leaders of that various constituencies and the National Working Committee (NWC) would agree before it could hold.
Is such decision not capable of causing confusion within the party?
Of course it will cause disharmony, fight and rancour within the party. I can tell you the mere fact that someone is a senator and even did not perform and he is given automatic ticket it would not work.
He must show cause why he needs to go back through his level of performance. So, nobody is going to accept this.
Do you agree with the argument of the Senators that new Senators in the National Assembly will not be in the interest of the president?
You must understand that there are performing senators and the constituencies know the performing senators and whether you like it or not, they are going to return them. You don’t need anybody to return a Senator like David Mark; you don’t need to tell anybody to return such a person who has performed so well.
But there are some with no voice, some of them did not even understand what is happening there and you think that in the name of being a senator, you must be returned back. It is never done, it is based on performance. I say it again that some constituencies will return performing Senators and not based on an Abuja arrangement.
Against this background, will it surprise you if members of the House of Representatives demand for such automatic allocation?
I will not be surprised if they are going to make such demand, but returning to the House of Reps will be based on performance. I don’t think anybody is going to return you and misrepresent us.
You must have a voice and must have done very well and the scale of the measurement of your performances is going to be from your constituency and the electorate. If you are giving the ticket and you don’t win, you are going to make the party to suffer. So, it is going to be the will of the people that is going to prevail, not an individual arrangement just for the sake of giving somebody ticket that will make us fail an election.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/automatic-tickets-failed-senators-ll-cause-pdp-failure-edionwele-ex-pdp-zonal-scribe/#sthash.1diuXKLU.dpuf

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