This came as reports from the United States indicated that loyalists of President Jonathan were using the occassion of the United Nation’s General Assembly to brainstorm on crisis rocking the party and the growing opposition to the president on his 2015 ambition.
In a statement which confirmed 2015 as a reason behind PDP crisis, the Baraje faction said Jonathan would be breaching the constitution if he contested and won the 2015 election, while also setting in motion a chain of negative events in the country.
The statement, signed by its publicity secretary, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, condemned what it called desperation on the part of the president in his alleged pursuit of second term ambition, adding that “we are worried that the 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.
“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 in the country’s disintegration, thereby bringing to pass the predictions of Lord Lugard that Nigeria as a nation by 2014 may be history, later confirmed by the US think-tank that Nigeria may disintegrate by 2015.”
The faction tasked the president to “heed the advice of well-meaning personalities such as Professor Ben Nwabueze and Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, all of whom have advised him to correctly read the handwriting on the wall and stay away from the 2015 presidential race.”
While admitting that the president had not declared his intention to run, the faction questioned the statement credited to the president while addressing Nigerian professionals in the United States, affirming that it ran contrary to his earlier promise not to re-contest in 2015 while interacting with Nigerians and diplomats working in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) in Ankara, Turkey.
The faction quoted the president as declaring on February 2011 that “he would have loved that Nigerians in the diaspora vote this year (2011) but to be frank with you, that is going to be difficult now. Currently, 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, though I will not be running for election.”
The president was quoted further to have asserted that “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.”
Declaring that the presidency could not deny those statements, the Baraje-led faction said the president’s statement was “a historical fact, which Jonathan himself cannot deny now since he had two years to deny that statement but never did so.”
Aside its warning of the country’s looming break up, the faction also said “by 2015, President Jonathan would have served for six years,” adding that “running in 2015 will mean spending a total of 10 years in office and being sworn in for three terms as president, contrary to the provisions of the constitution.”
It appealed to Jonathan to abandon the 2015 move and save the nation from catastrophe, while advising him not to overstretch his luck.
He’s eligible to run —G13 ex-govs
Former governors and governorship candidates of PDP have declared support for the re-election of President Jonathan, saying it would be against natural justice to deny him a right to seek re-election in 2015.
The former party henchmen, under the aegis of G13 candidates/former PDP Governors Forum, also said the drawbacks of past governments could not be blamed on the Jonathan-led administration.
According to the convener of the forum and former governorship candidate of PDP in Edo State, Major-General Charles Airhiavbere, PDP members were urged to embrace peace and return to the mainstream of the party, under the leadership of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
While underscoring their support for Jonathan in 2015, he said “the achievements recorded within the space of two years in office is highly commendable and the need to effortlessly support the president to continue the good work through national consensus becomes imperative.”
Political meetings in US
Loyalists of the president were said to have expressed relief at the speech of President Jonathan, especially his open declaration that he is entitled to run for a second term in office, in line with the provisions of the constitution.
A top placed source, who attended several nocturnal meetings in the US, said loyalists of the president deliberated on how best to tame political uprising at home and market the president when he finally declared to run in 2015.
According to the source, the meetings were looking at a worst case scenario by which members of the Baraje-led faction would finally quit the mainstream PDP.
Nigerian Tribune was told that leaders of Goodluck Support Group, led by Ahmed Gulak, were in the US with key officers of PDP, including its chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and others.
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