Jonathan for 2015 polls Nigeria – The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have 'cleared the coast' for the Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to contest the 2015 presidential election if a statement from the PDP Chair, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is anything to go by.
Tukur told journalists in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal capital city, Wednesday that the ongoing controversy by politicians and some Governors over whether President Jonathan should stand for re-election in 2015 is unnecessary as it is the prerogative of the party to nominate whosoever it chooses.
Tukur said: “Jonathan is now the President and he belongs to the PDP. So, what is wrong in representing him? The other parties can equally present their candidates if they have any.”
He also criticized some members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum for jumping the gun by standing against Jonathan’s candidacy, saying that the Forum cannot choose a presidential candidate for the party.
Tukur said: “PDP has its own laid down rules for conducting such exercises. The Governors’ Forum is not for selecting a candidate. We have got our own system in doing that. Candidates are not elected at Governors’ Forum.”
He condemned a statement credited to former head of state and former presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, that the PDP does not need a merger because 'it is in a merger with security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Tukur said the statement was just an allegation, adding 'I think the best thing is to ask for evidence but where there is none, I cannot react because I can only react to things that are factual.”
Pana 28/02/2013