By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa— Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said the decision of leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its state governors to adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2015 general election was to institutionalise the right of first refusal for an incumbent President.

He said: “The action of PDP is to promote stability in the political system and party responsibility to the electorate.”
He spoke at an interactive session with the members of the Federated Correspondent Chapel of Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ.

The governor said though the adoption of President Jonathan had been wrongly termed “sole candidacy,” by the media and the opposition groups, it was to entrench stability in the political system.

He said: “It is not a declara-tion of sole candidacy. The term ‘sole candidacy’ is a far cry from what we have done. What we have done is to stabilise the political system.
“What we have done is to say that we don’t want to subject our members to costly and stressful experiences.

“What we have said is that once you are a President from a political party, you have a right of first refusal. It will reduce in-fighting and cost of lobbying and campaigns.”