The leadership of the New Peoples Democratic Party has said that
President Goodluck Jonathan is not qualified to seek reelection in 2015.
The reasons why he cannot contest, according to the group, are: The 1999
Constitution, an agreement the President entered into and his open
statement in Turkey in 2011.
The President had on Monday said that the 1999 Constitution allowed
him to be in office for a maximum of eight years.
He had said, “Already, we have a constitution that makes provision for
maximum of eight years for anyone who wants to become a President or a
governor.
“There is no President or governor that all citizens vote for but at the
end of the election, if somebody emerges, you must allow the person to
work.
“If you love your country, you would want your country to work. That does
not mean that you will not vote against the person if you don’t like the
way he works, but you must allow him to work.”
But the New PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary,
Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, warned that Jonathan’s second term ambition
was not in the best interest of the country.
“After reviewing the state of the nation and the pulse of Nigerians, we
wish to advise President Jonathan to abandon his plan to seek re-election
in 2015 as this is not in the best interest of the country,” it added.
Admitting that the President had yet to categorically declare his
intention to run, the New PDP said he had given enough clues that he
would do so.
The statement reads, “We are worried that Mr. President is intent on
running despite his earlier promise not to do so and in spite of the wise
counsel of well-meaning Nigerians, including respected elder statesmen.
“In February, 2011 while interacting with Nigerians and diplomats working
in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African
Union in Ankara, Turkey, President Jonathan clearly stated ‘I would have
loved that the Nigerians in the Diaspora vote this year (2011) but to be
frank with you, that is going to be difficult now.
‘Presently, the law does not allow the voting outside Nigeria and so this
year, Nigerians in Diaspora will not vote but I will work towards it by 2015
even though I will not be running for election.’
“Mr. President went ahead to add, ‘Four years is enough for anyone in
power to make significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power
within this period, it then means I cannot do anything even if I am there
for the next four years.’
“This is a historical fact which Mr. President himself cannot deny now
since he had two years to deny that statement but never did so.”
It asked the President how he would want Nigerians and the entire world
to see him if he eventually makes a U-Turn.
“Why can he not keep his words as a man of honour instead of allowing
himself to be misled by selfish advisers to go back on his words, thereby
overheating the polity?”
The faction called on the President to heed the advice of well-meaning
personalities such as Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) and Archbishop Emeritus
of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie,
all of whom had advised him to correctly read the handwriting on the
wall and stay away from the 2015 presidential race.
While saying that by 2015, Jonathan would have been in office for six
years, it added that this was enough time for him to achieve whatever he
planned for Nigeria.
It said, “What else is he looking for that is making him desperate to
participate in the 2015 presidential election despite warnings that doing so
may spark a chain of events capable of culminating into the country’s
disintegration thereby bringing to pass the predictions of Lord Lugard
that Nigeria as a nation by 2014 maybe history, which was later
confirmed by the USA Think-Tank that Nigeria may disintegrate by 2015.
“
The group , therefore, appealed to the President “to abandon this ill-
advised move and save our nation from catastrophe.” It added that God
has been merciful to him by lifting him from being a university teacher to
a President
“We urge you Mr. President to listen to the voice of reason and avoid
over-stretching your good luck. A word is enough for the wise,” the New
PDP added.
Before the statement, Eze had told one of our correspondents on the
telephone in Abuja, that going by the 1999 Constitution, the President
was not qualified to run in 2015.
He said, “Our position is that he is not qualified to run in 2015 because
by that time, he would have been in office for six years.
“If he runs in 2015 and rigmaroles himself to power, he would be in office
for 10 years by 2019 and the Constitution does not allow that.
“The President knows this and this was the reason he said in New York
that the constitution allows him and the governors to spend eight years
and not 10 years as he is plotting now.”
Eze claimed that some New PDP members were in possession of a
document where the President promised not to run in 2015.
“We have fact and figures that the President promised not to run come
2015. At the appropriate time, we will release the document. Let him
continue to make noise,” he added.
Eze said if the President could not honour an agreement he willingly made
with people without coercion, it would be difficult to take him seriously.
The Presidency however vowed on Tuesday that nobody or group of
individuals, including the New PDP, was capable of stopping Jonathan if
he decided to contest the 2015 election.
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said
unrealisable ambition had blinded members of the New PDP to the extent
that they were no longer aware that Nigeria was governed by law.
He said, “The Abubakar Baraje group (New PDP) is an outlaw as far as
the law of this country is concerned. The country is governed by law.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no political crisis in the country. It is
a group of few people with unrealisable ambitions that are blinded to the
fact that there is a Constitution and there is the Electoral Act.
“These people, supported by the media, are the ones making a storm out
of a tea cup.
“When we reach the bridge, we will cross it. But I will continue to say that
nobody or group of individuals, be it the Baraje group or not, can stop
Mr. President from contesting 2015 election if he resolves to do so.
“Stopping him is abridging his constitutional right and it is illegal.”
Also, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Bamanga Tukur-led
PDP, Mr. Ibrahim Jalo, said that it was wrong to equate what the
President said in New York to mean a declaration of intent to run in 2015.
He said, “The President has not said he is running in 2015 even though it
is his right to do so. The President said the constitution allows him to run
for second term; that is correct.
“But let me say that the President still stands by his statement that he
would let Nigerians know if he would be running for second term or not,
by 2014.
“Nigerians, especially journalists, should allow the ongoing peace talks(in
the PDP) to work out. We should stop misinterpreting the President.”
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