Jonathan never promised the North not to run in 2015 – Senator Kanti Bello

- By Isola Balogun -

For Northern leaders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rooting for a party member from the North to succeed President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, it is time for a rethink as it has been revealed by a prominent Northerner that there is no such agreement holding the president to any promise.

This revelation came just as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) indicated that its national leader, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, is interested in the 2015 presidential race.

The CPC said Buhari’s decision stemmed from the “leadership deficit and truncation of the hope of the common man through the pervasive injustice in the land,”saying it is in alliance and “possible merger talks with other progressive coalition partners in order to give true meaning to democratic governance within the Nigerian polity.”

Senator Mahmud Kanti Bello, from Katsina State, who claimed to have been part of the process that produced Jonathan as the PDP presidential candidate at the primary preceding the 2011 polls, however, said the North should create a “proper scenario”for the 2015 presidency.

Saying the Northern leaders in the PDP did not extract any promise from Jonathan not to contest the 2015 presidential election, Kanti Bello narrated: “I can recall when we were doing the last caucus meeting before the last presidential primary election. The order of primaries and general elections were put into the Electoral Act.

We had the meeting at the PDP headquarters. There and then President Jonathan was trying to garner support. The president, governors, some lawmakers, party chieftains and I were there. I supported IBB because I felt he was a better candidate, but when he lost, I was duty bound as a party-man to support Jonathan.

“But then, before supporting him, I wanted to take something to my people who were agitating for a northern president. That is the fact because, after the death of Umaru (Yar-Adua), our people felt that the presidency should remain in the north to compensate for the death of Umaru. I was one of those who believed in that arrangement too. But we have a constitution in the party which has been jettisoned by the president because his coming in has altered the constitution.

He has redefined zoning. So, once he picked the ticket, I had no alternative than to support him, within my limits because I knew my people were not in support.

“So, in order to take something to our people, I asked the president, “can we have his words that in 2015, he will not run?” To be fair to Jonathan, he did not answer the question. But I can remember some people went ahead and issued a communique that President Jonathan was going to do only one term. But the president did not say so. They issued the communique as if they had discussed with him deceiving our people. Now, there is strong indication coming out that Jonathan wants to contest in 2015. If you can read the type of dance that the he is doing, then, you will know he is interested in 2015. Again, he has never said he is not interested. There is support from the South-south for him to continue in 2015.”

Buhari for 2015 presidency
Indicating the interest of Buhari in the 2015 presidential race, yesterday, the CPC disclosed that it is currently in alliance and possible merger talks with “other progressive coalition partners in order to give true meaning to democratic governance within the Nigerian polity.”

The opposition party, in a press statement, in Abuja, maintained that though Buhari had ab-initio declared his lack of interest in vying for presidency again, he was pressured to rescind his stance by the party’s leadership considering that “the Nigerian nation has been tottering as a result of the besmirched reputation of an inept, dishonest and egregiously incompetent political leadership.”

The statement, signed by the national publicity secretary of the CPC, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, reads: “The Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, has noted the furore engendered by the statement credited to the party’s national leader, General Muhamadu Buhari (GMB), while receiving a delegation of political admirers in Kaduna some days ago. In that occasion, GMB had stated that owing to the leadership deficit and the truncation of the hope of the common man through the pervasive injustice in the land, he would continue relevant political activism in the run to the 2015 general elections.

“True, GMB told the Nation, during the electioneering campaigns for the 2011 presidential election, that he would not be contesting the nation’s subsequent elections.

“It is almost a year ago since he made that statement.

Indeed, the Nigerian nation has been tottering as a result of the besmirched reputation of an inept, dishonest and egregiously incompetent political leadership; the party’s leadership has brought to bear immense pressure on GMB, to rescind his earlier stance on Nigeria’s tempestuous politics.

“Meanwhile, the CPC is in alliance and possible merger talks with other progressive coalition partners in order to give true meaning to democratic governance within the Nigerian polity. It is our considered opinion that it would be rather preemptive to speculate at this time what the choice of these coalition partners shall be.