2015: Jonathan May Declare On Saturday
18 governors storm Minna
President Goodluck
Jonathan will on Saturday continue with his campaign shuttle as he
storms Minna, the Niger State capital, with 18 governors and leaders of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a zonal rally.
Impeccable
sources told New Telegraph that Jonathan may formally declare his
re-election bid on Saturday ahead of the February 14 presidential
election during the North Central rally.
A competent source told
our correspondent that all the 18 PDP governors will meet on Friday
evening in Minna where they are expected to discuss development in the
polity, the future of the party in 2015 elections, and Jonathan’s
candidacy. The PDP governors met last in Katsina.
The source added
that the governors would on Saturday morning join the president and PDP
leadership at the rally where Jonathan is expected to make his decision
known on the 2015 election. The Saturday rally is going to be the first
major rally since 2011 election where all PDP governors will be in
attendance. Already, arrangements are in top gear in Minna for the
event.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that shortly after
Governor Babangida Aliyu announced that 18 PDP governors will accompany
the President to Niger State on Saturday, the State Security Committee
immediately went into closed-door meeting ostensibly to perfect
arrangements for the visit. The source, who pleaded anonymity, also said
the country’s first citizen choose to declare for 2015 presidential
election in Minna because the governor is the Chairman of the Northern
States Governors’ Forum (NSGF).
It was also gathered that the
presence of former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; former
Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Prof. Jerry Gana in the
state also informed the choice. “We are in high spirit to receive Mr.
President in Niger State.
We will be honoured to have him declare
his intention for 2015 Presidency. In Niger, we are 100 per cent PDP
with the feeble opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) whose some of
its members are going to defect to the PDP when President Jonathan
visits, on Saturday,” he added.
The source however refused to
disclose the names of likely defectors, adding that “Niger State is 100
per cent PDP and the APC is dead on arrival”. Aliyu had earlier made the
announcement after receiving the North Korean Ambassador in Nigeria,
Mr. Jong Yong Chol and the Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority
Board, Hajia Ina Ciroma, who paid him courtesy visits in the Government
House, Minna.
The governor stated that all the 18 governors elected
on the platform of PDP will also accompany the President to the state.
The governor, however, did not give details of the visit but said “all
of you are cordially invited.” The Trade Fair complex in the state
capital is also being given a facelift ahead of the visit for the rally.
The governor was in Ilorin, Kwara State on Monday for a
campaign rally, where he welcomed some defectors to the PDP. Kwara is
part of the North-Central zone. A source said the President is keen on
securing majority of his votes from the North from the North- Central
states of Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, and Nasarawa to neutralise
that of the North-West where the APC holds sway.
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