Governors Vow To Take Power From GEJ In 2015

As President Goodluck Jonathan tightens the noose against governors in the control of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, structure, some of the state chief executives are also strategising on how to thwart his 2015 re-election bid.

The President will have to rely more on new strategies because “shoeless, minority and performance factors” are not to his advantage. An impeccable party source told National Mirror that more than two-thirds of the 28 governors elected on the platform of the PDP are considering sponsoring a serving governor against President Jonathan in the party’s primaries come 2014.

“We will give the President a fight for the 2015 presidency.

All the plans to whittle down the influence of the governors won’t work. We will ensure that one of the PDP governors confront President Jonathan for the party’s ticket at the primaries,” a senior member of the PDP told National Mirror at the weekend. It was learnt that the governors are considering the candidature of Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers). Although Governors Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) and Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) are also nursing presidential ambition, “they are not considered to be too serious.”

Shema, according to sources, is angling for the vice-presidential candidate to President Jonathan if the power play did not favour the return of Namadi Sambo, the incumbent Vice- President. This explains the cold relationship between Vice-President Sambo and Shema. Lamido and Aliyu are considered the favourite of the governors. They also enjoy the support of loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who President Jonathan’s men are poised to decimate his influence in the PDP.

The choice of Amaechi is premised on the fact that he enjoys the support of fellow governors and that he is from the same oil-rich Niger Delta as the President. However, the insistence of the northern bloc that the power must return to the zone is leaving the governors with an option of making Amaechi the running mate in an Aliyu or Lamido candidacy.

The second leg of the plot is that if the governors lose the presidential ticket to the President, they would back opposition party. A former governor told National Mirror that at least 11 PDP governors have indicated interest to support the All Progressive Congress, APC, in terms of funding and logistics. The plan is that some of the PDP governors are not going to leave the party in the event they lose PDP ticket to President Jonathan.

“They will likely sponsor a candidate, preferable a former governor or an incumbent governor in the mega party. “They won’t leave the PDP but work underground against the party’s interest as fifth columnists,” the source said. As at today, President Jonathan cannot boast of support from governors of the North. Just recently, Kwankwaso expressed support for the emergence of APC.

The Kano governor is not on the same page with President Jonathan. He even sees the vice president as junior to him in politics. This was evident at the PDP zonal congress in Kaduna before the 2011 elections when he confronted the vicepresident on issues and that he should not dictate to him. Just at the weekend, Aliyu opened up on the one-term agreement reached between President Jonathan and the PDP governors before the 2011 presidential election. He had said: “We must remind people of the promises they have made.

When he (Jonathan) was going to declare, governors of PDP were brought together to ensure that we were all in the same frame of mind. “Some of us, given the circumstances of the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua and given the PDP zoning arrangement, were expecting that the northern states would produce the President for this number of years but God has done His own. “At that discussion, it was agreed that President Jonathan would serve one term and we all signed and when he went to Kampala, Uganda, he said the same thing.

“But for now, President Jonathan has not declared his candidacy and we must not be speculating based on those who are benefiting from such thing. “I believe that we are all gentlemen enough and when the time comes, we will all sit down and see what the right thing to do is.” A governor in the North also expressed his frustration with the President to associates recently.

The governor, who was President Jonathan’s zonal coordinator in the 2011 election, said he was insulted in the North because of the President and after Jonathan won the election, he did not give him the chance to nominate any of the ministers and appointees from his state.

The governor is embittered and unwilling to stick out his neck again for the President’s re-election. The President’s reelection is also being threatened because he is losing or has lost support in two zones that have the highest voting strength – South-West and North West. In the South-West, the PDP structure is in tatters.

Peace has eluded the party with the recent dissolution of the zonal executives; a move targeted as decimating Obasanjo’s influence in the party. The ACN is in firm control of the zone. In the North-West, Jonathan lost the zone to the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in the 2011 election.

The President’s rating is at the lowest ebb in the zone. Former military Head of State and CPC presidential candidate in the 2011 poll, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is from Katsina; Kwankwaso is from Kano; CPC is strong in Kaduna; Sule is from Jigawa. The Jonathan’s camp is also fighting back.

A presidential source said political strategists are working on a number of measures to contain the governors between now and the PDP primaries in late 2014. The first step was carried out recently with the redeployment of police commissioners in 16 states.

This action, though seen as normal in the security circle, is meant to check the influence of governors on the force. Also, the Presidency is considering breaking the ranks of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, by sponsoring a splinter group to create a leadership crisis.

This was done under the leadership of Senator Bukola Saraki as NGF chairman. In the build-up to the 2011 election in which the then Governor Saraki was PDP aspirant, the Jonathan’s camp launched a counter-plot to oust him as the leader of the governors.

This led to the emergence of Gbenga Daniel, the then governor of Ogun State, as NGF’s chairman. Daniel was sponsored by the Presidency under Jonathan’s watch. This decision, however, could not stand because Saraki lost the presidential ticket and was let be.

Sources said the same treatment would soon be meted to Amaechi, who is seen as enemy number one in Aso Rock. Amaechi at the weekend, however, declined to comment on his alleged presidential ambition during a citizens’ forum in Port Harcourt.

He said he was eminently qualified for the presidency. “If the educational qualification for contesting the presidency is school certificate, then I am qualified because I have a school certificate, I have a first degree and even a master’s.”

Amaechi said he had no regrets for his actions as NGF’s chairman. To him, the actions were “done in the interest of Nigerians and the governors.” In another development, the North’s apex socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has called on President Jonathan to honour his one-term agreement with the governors.

Speaking on the issue, the ACF spokesman, Mr. Anthony Sani, in a text message to our correspondent said the President should be a man of honour by abiding with the agreement. The statement reads: “The only thing new in Governor Babangida Aliyu’s statement is that President Goodluck Jonathan committed himself in writing in his agreement with the governors that he would do one term.

“I said this because the media was awash at that time that President Jonathan had undertaken with the governors that he would do only one term.

“Nigerians also heard President Jonathan say in far away Uganda that only four years were enough for him to make Nigeria experience a change; and that anybody who could not deliver in four years would not be able to achieve anything even if more years are added.

“As an embodiment of national ideals and moral values, Mr. President is not expected to swallow his words of honour, of trust and confidence.

“What is more, President Jonathan has been dragged to the court challenging his eligibility to contest in 2015 considering he has already taken the oath of office twice, and given that the constitution only allows for maximum of eight years.

“This dilemma has made Mr. President to keep his decision on declaration for the contest on hold until 2014 moreso that this time is not for politics but for governance and performance.

“But I think this matter is not too much about constitution and signed agreement, but of honour, trust and confidence. 2014 is not too far away. Moreso the President’s declaration does not preclude any aspirant from the contest, especially if such aspirant has what it takes to deliver on the promise of democracy, and Nigerians are prepared to make judicious use of their democratic rights.”

Meanwhile, Buhari is still adamant about contesting the 2015 election. It was learnt that stakeholders in the party had been putting pressure on him to drop his ambition for a younger person. His ambition is considered a major factor in the merger arrangement.

A source confided in our correspondent that pressures from outside the merger arrangement were also coming. It was also gathered that former military President Ibrahim Babangida and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar were working to ensure that Buhari “is dissuaded from running for the 2015 presidency.”

“Babangida and Atiku are likely going to support a northern presidential candidate on the platform of APC outside Buhari. “So, they are working on the permutations of producing a neutral candidate that the North can rally round. So, they are also interested in who becomes the APC presidential candidate,” another source in the merger arrangement told National Mirror.

Though Atiku still has interest in the Presidency but his getting the PDP ticket is very remote. As such, he may be forced to throw his support elsewhere. The National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told National Mirror that APC was not only out to displace President Jonathan but to enthrone democracy at all levels that would give Nigerians a meaningful life.

“It is a comprehensive movement that will ensure that the APC is in control of governance at all levels. It is not only to be in control of the Presidency; we want to also be in charge of the states and National Assembly,” Mohammed said.

The ACN spokesman said the APC was not discussing about a presidential candidate for now. “We have a lot of work at hand to do. We need to work on our logo, manifesto, and constitution and consolidate our structures before talking about sharing offices. The issue of candidacy is not on the list of our priorities for now,” he said.