President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who lost at the primaries to remain in party in the interest of democracy.
Jonathan made the appeal on Saturday night while speaking at the PDP fund raising dinner held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that the leadership of the party was working to resolve all outstanding issues in the congresses and primaries.
Jonathan said: “we all appreciate that throughout the congresses where primary elections were conducted there have been some outstanding issues.
“The party is working to resolve these issues; definitely, in such situation all may not be resolved to the satisfaction of everybody.
“But my plea to party members is to remain committed to the party; stay with the party.
“I know other parties are wooing some of you to contest elections on their platforms, but if you believe in democracy then you will contribute to strengthen it.
“The only way you can strengthen democracy is for you to stay in your party.’’
The president also told the members that if there were issues they felt were not too correct, it was better for them to stay together and correct them.
He added that staying together to settle those issues was the only way democracy can grow.
“If out of anger or frustration, you leave the party because you didn’t get what you wanted, then you are not contributing to the growth of democracy,” he said.
Jonathan thanked members of the party, the business community and other supporters of the PDP for contributing to the growth of the party.
While recalling the “generous donation” of the business community to support victims of the 2012 flood and to the Victim Support Fund in September, he assured them that their donations would be judiciously utilised.
Jonathan also assured the business community of more policies and programmes that would promote enterprise and industry as well as expand the economy.
Citing a beneficiary of the YouWin programme, who donated N1 million at the dinner, the president stated that the party had made a number of millionaires and billionaires in the country.
He said that the PDP-led at the centre administration was working hard to make more young millionaires through the YouWin programme and the recently launched Youth Employment through Agriculture Programme (YEAP).
He assured Nigerians that the PDP would do everything possible to keep the country united.