Second term: Jonathan set to break silence
President Goodluck Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan is set to
declare his intention to seek re-election during the 2015 presidential
election. The poll has been fixed for February 14 next year by the
Independent National Electoral Commission.
Following the release of the election
timetable by INEC on Friday, the Presidency on Saturday said Jonathan
would make public his decision on the 2015 presidential election soon.
President Jonathan has so far resisted
pressure to declare his intention regarding 2015. On different
occasions, he said he would only make his decision known this year.
Last Thursday, while speaking on the
sidelines of the just-concluded World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, Jonathan said he was awaiting INEC’s green light.
He said, “I am not going to talk about
whether I am standing for election or not because it is not in line with
our laws. INEC has a time frame within which candidates are expected to
declare. If you declare before that time, you are actually contravening
the Nigerian laws. So, I won’t tell anybody that I am contesting or
that
I’m not contesting.”
The 2015 ambition of the President has
become controversial with loyalists and opponents of Jonathan heating
the polity with their statements.
While some prominent South-South leaders
have threatened that they will make the country ungovernable if the
President is not given a second term, northern elders have claimed that
the President signed a one-term agreement and must honour it; a claim
the Presidency has refuted many times.
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday that with the release of the election timetable by INEC, the coast was clear for Jonathan to declare.
Gulak said out of the six geo-political
zones in the country, Jonathan had completed consultations in four
–South-South, South-East, South-West and North-West – with stakeholders
in the zones asking him to seek re-election.
Gulak said, “You will recall that the
President’s position has remained that he will make his position on the
next election known this year. Now that INEC has released timetable for
the election, the President will make his position known very soon upon
completion of ongoing consultations.
“I can confirm to you that consultation
has been completed in South-South, South-East, South -West and
North-West with stakeholders in the four zones asking the President to
re-contest in 2015.”
However, Gulak did not say when Jonathan made the consultations or how.
When contacted on Saturday, INEC
reaffirmed that with the release of the election timetable, aspirants
for the 2015 general elections were free to declare their intentions to
contest.
The commission’s Director (Media Affairs), Mr. Nick Dazang, told SUNDAY PUNCH that aspirants could declare their ambition but could not campaign before November 16.
Dazang said, “Aspirants can declare
their ambitions and nobody is against that; but by law, they are not
supposed to campaign, until 90 days to the election; that is from
November 16.
“I mean 90 days to the election is when
campaign is supposed to begin. After that, the political parties can
begin to conduct primaries and in the course of the primaries,
candidates that will contest the election will emerge.”
Meanwhile, one of our correspondents
learnt on Saturday that the National Working Committee of the Peoples
Democratic Party would meet soon to review the election timetable.
A member of the committee, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity, said the committee would meet in order to
debate the timetable, fees for nomination forms and dates for all the
events, including the primary elections.
He said, “We will meet soon to discuss
the timetable. We will look at it and take decisions, like how much we
will charge for the primaries and the dates.”
Meanwhile, the National Publicity
Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, has described the release of the
timetable as a welcome development.
He said, “The INEC timetable is part of
democratic process, PDP is a law-abiding party; we are guided by the
procedure for electoral processes. We will participate fully in the
entire process, our job is to sensitise the various organs of our party
to mobilise and rally for the election.
“We are not unmindful of the
machinations of the opposition, who have become undemocratic in their
actions and activities. We heard that they would instruct their members
in the National Assembly not to participate in the electoral process.
Let me put it unequivocally that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria,
with or without the All Progressives Congress.”
The Interim National Publicity Secretary
of the APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has said that his party will soon meet to
take a decision on the timetable.
Mohammed said, “There are so many angles
to it. INEC has just released its timetable, the party will have to
meet first, and we can’t rush to make a statement now without meeting.
We will look at the timetable and work towards it.”
