A grand plot to draft President
Goodluck Jonathan into the presidential race has commenced with four All Progressives
Congress (APC) Governors from the North leading the charge, The Nation learnt
at the weekend.
It was gathered a group of 10
politicians from the South, comprising notable figures from Bayelsa, home state
of the former President, had been given the mandate to begin a media campaign
that would midwife the plan.
The group, led by a chieftain of
the APC from Bayelsa and Jonathan’s political ally, was said to have met on two
occasions to discuss the modalities of rolling out the campaign.
A source, who spoke in
confidence, said the Northern Governors, wanted the South-South to start the
campaign while they play a supportive role in convincing the APC to give its
ticket to the former President.
The source said the plot was to
first begin a campaign for the South-South to complete its tenure in 2023.
He said: “Ten known politicians
mainly from Bayelsa State have come together as a group. Their job is to start
a media campaign on the need for the South-South to complete its tenure.
“They believe that since every
other zone that produced the President ruled the country for eight years, the
South-South should be allowed to complete its tenure.
“The four Northern Governors
backing the return of Jonathan in 2023 wanted the South-South to start the
campaign first while they play a supportive role in midwifing the process. They
want the argument to originate from their zone of interest”.
The source said already the 10
crack team had held a meeting with Jonathan and would soon meet with the
Northern Governors involved in the project.
He said Jonathan was interested
in the project, which was why he had refused to publicly deny his continual
linkage to the 2023 presidency on the APC platform.
“The plan of these APC governors
is to allow power return to the north after four years since Jonathan is
entitled to only four years.
“The North believes that their
tenure under the late President Musa Yar’Adua was cut short and they need to
quickly return to power after 2023,” he said.
He said notable figures in the
Bayelsa State Government had agreed to support the move even if it entailed
their defections to the APC.
“If the plan goes well, Jonathan
will defect to the APC and significant number of politicians in PDP across the
South-South including Bayelsa will join him,” he said.
A kinsman of Jonathan and public
analyst, Wisdom Ikuli, had earlier said there was nothing wrong in the move to
bring Jonathan back to Aso Rock.
He said: “If we say we are
fighting for equity and we believe in justice and fairness then it demands that
the people of South-South should be given the remaining one term because they
have done one term. When they complete that one term it will now rotate to
another geopolitical zone”.
But the source insisted that if
some Governors in APC continued to push for Jonathan, it could lead to the
disintegration of the ruling party.
Though Jonathan has not publicly
declared his intention to run in 2023, he has also not denied having a
presidential ambition
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