2015: We don’t trust Jonathan —Northern leaders

Northern leaders have again expressed doubts about the willingness of President Goodluck Jonathan to fulfil his promise not to contest a second term in 2015.Jonathan had during a foreign trip in January 2011, while speaking on Nigerians in the diaspora’s involvement in future elections promised that he would “work towards it by 2015 even though I will not be running for election.”

The leaders, under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Leaders, said every action of the President indicated that he would run for a second term. The CNL is a pressure group comprising the North’s finest crop of academics, professionals and businessmen.

The spokesman, Dr. Junaid Mohammad, who spoke to THE PUNCH in Abuja, said the President’s recent actions and inactions did not inspire confidence.

Mohammed said while Jonathan had warned ministers and party members to stop campaigning for 2015, he had not passed a similar warning to his kinsmen who were asking him to run for a second term.

Mohammed was referring to the President’s comment at the 59th National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party where he asked members of the party to stop 2015 politicking.

Mohammed said, “The President has refused to caution people like Asari Dokubo, who revealed that he (Jonathan) would run for a second term.

“Now, he (the President) is busy empowering his people with juicy appointments. He has put his Niger Delta kinsman at the helm of affairs of the Ministry of Niger Delta (Mr. Godsday Orubebe).

“Also, his kinswoman is in charge of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, (Deziani Allison-Madueke); the lady at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of Land is also from his constituency (Mrs. Amma Pepple).

“The President has also single-handedly handed over the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to the former militants from his region (Mr. Tompolo).

“He has also pushed away the former Governor of his home state, Chief Timipre Sylva out of the road for his boy (Mr. Henry Dickson) and the allocation formula is favourable to him and his people.’

Therefore, the spokesman for the Northern leaders urged Jonathan to honour his commitment.

“He should abide by what he told the world concerning 2015. Why would he ask people not to talk about 2015 when he has refused to caution those promoting his own ambition?” he asked.

The CNL had, in a communique issued at the end of its meeting in Abuja on March 15, alleged that Jonathan was using the Belgore Committee to pursue his third term ambition, through the promulgation of a new constitution that would provide for a single tenure of seven years.

But the presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, had in an interview with journalists, faulted the allegation.

Abati had said, “If their concern is about the seven-year term, President Jonathan has made it clear that his proposal is out of patriotic concern about the amount of wastefulness, greed, tension, conflict that goes into the obsession of a second term.”

But the Coordinator of the Federation of Midle Belt People, Manassah Watyil, in an interview with our correspondent in Jos, said the North should pursue its agenda differently, without bringing the Middle Belt into its fold.

Watyill, who said his organisation, had been observing activities of the CNL, said, “If the North wants us, the Middle Belt, to support it, they would not have been killing us. Do you know that the name North Central is added to our nomenclature by them to tear us apart and to give us a false sense of belonging?

“We have been reduced to beasts because they believe they are born to rule. How can we support them when they term us second class citizens? We are working towards taking our place like other regions of the nation.”

Also the Chairman of Kwara Yoruba Unity Forum, Mr. Olala Kasum, in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Ilorin, said the North had been creating obstacles, which had been inhibiting Jonathan from executing his developmental agenda.

Kasum said, “Jonathan has every right to contest for a second term being a Nigerian. The northern leaders have been holding power for years. It is not a question of length of time but productivity and relevance.

“Jonathan is using the old and dead woods. We want him to find those who are very close to the masses and use them. Jonathan has not performed because these people go round to abort his effort.”

Commenting on the North’s allegation, the Afenifere leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, said since the President had assured Nigerians that he would not seek a second term in office, he should be allowed to concentrate on his job.

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