Since Mr. Aliyu opened the issue of the controversial single- term pact, others have joined the fray to insist that Mr. Jonathan should excuse himself from the impending presidential race. The Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, a few months ago asked the president to keep his promise instead of dragging Nigerian into another civil war. Mr. Nyako, who also said he was at the meeting, claimed there was an earlier agreement in 2003 that the north would produce the president between 2007 and 2011 and that Mr. Jonathan, who was the deputy governor of Bayelsa State, signed as number 73. The governor said when he was approached to sign the new agreement in 2011 that Mr. Jonathan would not contest again in 2015 he was reluctant to do so because he (President) did not respect the 2003 agreement. He said he was subsequently prevailed upon to sign. “In the first place, when that agreement was brought for me to sign, I told them that this President (Jonathan), in the agreement signed in the year 2003, he was number 73,” Mr. Nyako who defected to the APC last October, said. “Did we not agree under (ex-President Olusegun) Obasanjo that the term 2007 and 2011 belong to the North? “He was number 73 as deputy governor of Bayelsa State, so when they came, they said I should sign, they said he had agreed that he would not contest in the year 2015. “In the first place, I said I did not believe him because he didn’t give his pledge for the agreement signed in the year 2003. They said ah, ah, Baba Maimangoro. I said ok, I will sign. So I signed.” “After that, the Niger State governor took the paper to Jonathan and he signed. Obasanjo can confirm that he came here with Jonathan and pleaded with me to support Jonathan to contest the 2011 Presidential election.” The governor explained that it was Mr. Aliyu, Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State and others he did not name that brought the agreement to him to sign. He also stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo accompanied Mr. Jonathan to prevail upon him (Nyako) to back the president who had already agreed to serve for one term. He said, “Obj (Obasanjo) will tell you, he came here and pleaded with me to support Jonathan in 2011. He came here and virtually took an oath to serve only one term.” The Adamawa State governor claimed his Niger State counterpart was in possession of the said agreement even as he lambasted Mr. Jonathan for not being a man of honour. He said the president’s behaviour was capable of plunging the nation into another civil war.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:36:13 +0000
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