The
Pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum,
has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to abide by the “agreement” to
vacate office after his current tenure.
The ACF said the revelation by Niger
State Governor Babangida Aliyu that Jonathan had an agreement with the
Peoples Democratic Party’s governors not to contest in 2015 was not new.
The body for northerners said the
President had at different fora announced that a single term of four
years was enough for him to turn things around in the country.
The ACF said Jonathan’s eligibility to
participate in the 2015 election was not a constitutional matter “but of
honour, trust and confidence.”
National Publicity Secretary of the
forum, Mr. Anthony Sani, told one of our correspondents in Kaduna, “What
the Niger State governor said is not new. This is because Nigerians
read in the newspapers at that time that President Jonathan had agreed
with the PDP governors to do only one term; and that was why the
governors supported him. Such was commonplace knowledge in the media.
“We also read and heard President
Jonathan said in Uganda that four years was enough for him to make
Nigerians experience a sea of change; and that any president who could
not do so in one tenure of four years would not be able to achieve
anything , even if given many terms.
“With such commonplace knowledge, most
Nigerians would not expect the President to swallow his words of honour
and trust in order to contest in 2015 considering that he is an
embodiment of national ideals and moral values. It is not a matter of
constitutional right but of honour, trust and confidence.”
Sani said Jonathan’s eligibility was
also a subject of legal tussle given that some PDP members were
challenging his eligibility to contest in 2015 in court, having already
taken the oath of office twice.
Source: PUNCH
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