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PDP Governors To Release Jonathan’s One-Term Pact

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It is about two years away, but 2015 is already sparking big rows.

Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu spoke at the weekend on an agreement which he said the President signed – that he (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) would spend one term in office.

The Presidency is yet to react to the statement, but more Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)governors are threatening to release copies of the agreement.

Aliyu’s statement is said to have rattled the Presidency.

It was also learnt that some National Assembly leaders are claiming to know about the one-term agreement with the governors.

The Nation learnt that all PDP governors have copies of the agreement, which was allegedly signed before the presidential primaries in January, 2011.

A source said the agreement accounted for why the Northern governors dumped former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who lost woefully at the presidential primaries.

It was learnt that Jonathan entered into the agreement “to appease the North”.

According to another Northern governor, who spoke with some PDP leaders and National Assembly members yesterday in Abuja , the “one-term agreement is real”. “We are just waiting for the right time to talk,” he said.

“I have a copy of the agreement and some of us have come together to enforce the agreement. We will soon release a copy of the agreement to the public to prove a point — that we are not just raising the alarm.

“I think the right thing is for the President to stick to the agreement. Some of us were almost stoned for sacrificing the interest of the North for the Southsouth.

“We hope the President will own up to this crucial agreement. It is a welcome development that the Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum was the one who raised it.”

It was gathered that the Presidency was rattled by the revelation, forcing strategists to spend hours planning a response which did not come at press time last night.

A source said: “The comments of the Niger State Governor were initially greeted with disbelieve by the President’s strategists, who worked through the night on the appropriate response.

“The issues highlighted by the strategists were how to manage why the President went into the agreement; plausible reasons why the pact might not subsist, and tackling the bearer of the message, Governor Babangida Aliyu.

“They considered the governor’s disclosure as a serious challenge.”

Niger Delta activist and human rights campaigner, Annkio Briggs, has described as sheer blackmail the allegation that President Jonathan signed an agreement to serve only for a term in the run-up to the 2011 Presidential election.

Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone, Briggs said if it turned out that there was such an agreement, it must have been obtained under duress since there was nothing that compels Jonathan to serve for four years.

Arguing that the Northern governors appear bent on using the controversial agreement to blackmail Jonathan against running in 2015, should he decide to do so, Briggs insists that the agreement remains null and void since it was not signed on behalf of Nigerians.

She said: “If that statement is true, then you can see that Nigeria is in trouble if a set of people can sit and decide how politics should be played. Does it mean that the power of choice no longer resides with voters? In my opinion, it is totally wrong if Jonathan has to be put in a position in which he has to sign under duress that he would serve for a term. If such a document exists, then it must have been obtained under duress.

“In the first place, Jonathan has no right to sign that document on behalf of Nigerians and, particularly, on behalf of the Southsouth people. He has a right to run for a second term of four years just like any other Nigerian if he so wishes. If Babangida Aliyu wants to run for President, he should do so without resorting to blackmailing Jonathan. That also applies to any Northern governor who plans to run. They should stop blackmailing Jonathan.

“If he signed such a document, that means he has signed it under duress and therefore the document is a nullity. If Jonathan decides to run in 2015, it should be based on his performance in office. We cannot run away from the fact that the Jonathan Presidency has been under serious threat by those who vowed to make the country ungovernable. And so, that kind of document is not acceptable to us.”

Source: Nation

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