2015: Jonathan’s men and northern agenda Our Reporter September 16, 2013 5 Comments » 2015: Jonathan’s men and northern agenda The current tsunami in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), no doubt, is all about 2015 general election and agitation for power shift. While some northern leaders and elders want the power back to the north in 2015, some leaders from other zones except the South-west also want it back to their zones, while some, across the nation prefer President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term in office. RAZAQ BAMIDELE, in this report examines comments of the pro and anti Jonathan’s second term in office. Now that the time seems to have been ripe for declaration of political ambition towards the election year of 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan, and other would be aspirants may likely embark on public declaration of their ambitions. It was no other person than the Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, who, during the recently held post Convention dinner of his party in Abuja, announced that “it wont be too early for any aspirant to commence campaign for 2015 election from the beginning of next month.” He was even reported to have urged President Jonathan to declare his second term ambition without further delay. Political observers are of the view that Jonathan’s declaration is what is expected to change the tempo of polity in the country. This might not be unconnected to the agitation of some northern elders and leaders, especially, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), that power should come back to the north in 2015. In the same vein, some elements in the South-east geo-political zone in the country also want the feel of the presidency the same year. It is against this backdrop that Daily Sun, in this report tries to x-ray and chronicle the views of some prominent Nigerians on the burning matter. Former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Prof. Ango Abdullahi who is the Executive Secretary of the NEF, has insisted that “Jonathan is not qualified to contest 2015 election.” Prof. Abdullahi on Liberty Radio Kaduna recently provided the strongest argument against Jonathan’s perceived ambition when he said he was not entitled to a second term ticket. Abdullahi, who was the former Presidential Adviser on Food Security, said there are abundant reasons why Nigerians should not entrust President Goodluck Jonathan with the leadership of the country beyond May, 2015. The reasons, according to the Secretary of the Northern Elders Forum, revolve around what he called the president’s betrayal of the process that brought him into office. He said President Jonathan got the support of the north to contest for one term in 2011 but is now bent on usurping the slot of the north again in 2015. Earlier, the Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu had said that “Jonathan has signed a gentleman agreement to spend only one term in office. With these arguments from two eminent northern personalities, one may hold the belief that they were speaking the minds of all the northerners. But former Senate President, Ameh Ebute said they were expressing their personal opinions as guaranteed by the Nigeria’s constitution. According to him, the principle of zoning was in favour of Jonathan to go for a second term in office reminding that “when power was rotating within the northern zone for almost two decades, other Nigerians from the other zones were patient.” The lawyer cum politician, who is the leader of a political pressure group, Congress for Quality and Change was of the conviction that “now that fate and divine providence has dropped the mantle of leadership on the lap of someone from a zone that has not produced a president before, principle of fair play demands that other zones should also be patient till he exhausted his two terms as allowed by the constitution.” While debunking the impression that northerners were against Jonathan’s second term in office, the former Senate President asserted that “while some members of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and Northern Elders Forum (NEF), are expressing their preference for a northern president in 2015, there are millions of other Arewa people who are rooting for Jonathan’s second coming.” Speaking in the same vein, a founding member of PDP, and former Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Minister, Muhammed Abba Gana even admitted that “allowing President Goodluck Jonathan to go for a second term in 2015 will be to the advantage of the people of the northern part of the country.” Abba Gana, in an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos added that “Four years of Jonathan from 2015 will give the people of the north the required amble chance to be more united and ready for the presidency,” stating that “the period would be utilized to search for leader that would be groomed to the level of acceptability across the country.” Also contributing to the discourse, former Military Governor of Plateau State and Current Chairman, Strategic Mobilization Committee of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), General Lawrence Onoja has given reasons why the Middle-Belt did not buy the idea of power shifting back to the north in 2015. Onoja, who is also a member of a political pressure group, Congress for Equality and Change, in a media interaction in Abuja recently informed that “Middle-Belt of today is different from the Middle-Belt of the sixties when we were categorized as part of the core north.” According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan has the constitutional right to go for a second term in offices if he so wishes assuring that the Middle-Belt region would back him for a second term in office because he was qualified for it. His words: “There could be anger in certain parts of the North. But there is no anger against Jonathan in my own Middle-Belt part of the North. We support Jonathan for his second term. Every group has the fundamental right to agitate for power. The groups that are talking, the Northern Elders and ACF, they are not political parties. They are socio-political cum cultural associations. So they probably cannot install a President. At best they are talking of supporting a candidate from the North. You don’t blame me for saying that my own people support Jonathan.” On the South-east agitation for presidency in 2015, Chris Ukpabi, a Senator in the Second Republic under the umbrella of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), urged his people to be patient saying Jonathan’s second term in office would be of immense benefit for the south-east. “I am from the South-East but we are not going to stop Jonathan this time. I am from the South-East and I am entitled to be president of this country. I was a Senator in the Second Republic. I left the Senate a long time now. I am well read to be president of this country. But we are saying we will not because if we go in there we will also clamor to go a second term. If we refuse Jonathan from going a second term now, what will be the morale behind our demand for going for a second term unless, we have made up our mind to be there for once when it is our turn. But if we must be there for a second term we must allow him do his second term,” the elder statesman submitted. Chipping in his own comments, son of the first Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Dr. Abdul-Jelil Tafawa Balewa has also explained reasons he would support the second term of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, saying “the national structure he is building will benefit the country now and in the future.” The 56 years old Nuclear Chemistry expert, who spoke with Daily Sun in Lagos maintained that “only the electorate, and not northern agitation, can decide who leads them,” admitting however that in democracy, every citizen has the right to voice out his choice within the purview of the law.” But former Plateau State Caretaker Chairman of the PDP, Chief Abu King Shuluwa in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun insists that 2015 is the turn of the north to produce Nigeria’s president. Shuluwa who also blamed the northern governors for supporting Jonathan to clinch the presidency in 2011 however commended the Save Democracy Groups established by some of them stressing that the move was an indication that some of them have realized their mistake and want to correct it ahead of 2015. As it is now, one may harzard a guess that from the foregoing, President Goodluck Jonathan stands a good chance of clinching a second term ticket to remain in office beyond 2015. But sice 24 hours is a long time in politics, we should keep our fingers crossed until we get to the bridge and cross it.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 22:41:19 +0000
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