A lovely section of the interview between Lt. Gen Jeremiah Useni(Retrd) and Adelani Adepegba on 26th Jan,2014 culled from Punch Newspaper. Is it true that President Jonathan had a one-term agreement with the North? Jerry Boy: I have never been in the PDP, so I don’t know. That was a party thing. I don’t know anything about it. The discussions were at the party level, not elders level, so I don’t know. Some Niger-Delta activists are threatening bloodshed if Jonathan is not allowed to contest in 2015. What is your take on this? Jerry Boy: I agree with them on this. Jonathan has the right to contest to complete two terms in office. There is no reason why Jonathan should not contest in 2015. If Yar’Ardua were alive, he would be finishing his eight years now. The man (Jonathan) took part of it. I can only say these four years that he is about to finish will be really his own. So if you don’t want him to spend another four years to make eight years, you can say let him spend two-and-a-half years or so, of what remained of Yar’Adua’s tenure to make up his own eight years. Definitely, there is no reason why Jonathan should not go for it in 2015, unless people reject him. It is not that he is not qualified, he is over-qualified. So, are you opposed to agitators who want power to return to the North? Jerry Boy: I am from the North, I don’t agree with them. The calculation is wrong, the calculation is selfish. How do you assess Jonathan’s government? Jerry Boy: The only thing I would say is he (the President) should blow hot and cold. Too much of cold compared to hot is why this nonsense is going on. He should balance it. I think he is doing well. One tree cannot make a forest; he cannot run the Federal Government and also run the states. State governments are there to do their own bit, so also are local governments. Are you still in Democratic Peoples Party? Jerry Boy: I’m still in DPP. But DPP has almost fizzled from the political landscape? Jerry Boy: No, I am still there. How can you say we have fizzled out? We are having meetings and looking at the whole set-up. Any plan to field a presidential candidate in 2015 or merge with another party? Jerry Boy: No, we have no plan to field a presidential candidate, but we may merge with another party, preferably PDP because that is where I believe we have more friends. But we have not concluded on that yet, I am just talking about preference.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 22:37:13 +0000
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