Monarch leads North’s campaign against Jonathan

By Henry Umoru
ABUJA—FRESH facts emerged, yesterday, that a prominent monarch who is also a religious authority, was leading other northern leaders against the widely speculated ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 Presidential polls.
Vanguard gathered that the traditional ruler’s move was to convince key northerners to direct the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to upheld the issue of zoning in favour of the North.

It was learnt that the traditional ruler who was very happy with the decision of the governors who voted for zoning, in line with the wishes of the North to have the presidential slot in 2011, had begun moves to first convince other leading emirs, traditional rulers and stakeholders on the need to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from emerging as the presidential candidate of the PDP.
It would be recalled that the northern governors at the end of their meeting, last Tuesday, came up with 10 voting for zoning, seven against, while one was absent.

Vanguard learnt that the well respected traditional ruler from the North-west was convincing the people of the North with slogans like, Kasan Ku, meaning, ‘your land,’ Alladun Ku, meaning, ‘your culture’ and Adinin Ku, meaning, ‘your religion.’
What these connote is that the people of the North must protect their land, their culture and religion and that a vote for Jonathan would amount to losing all the things the North treasures.

IBB, Atiku, Ciroma, Mohammed, Lawal Kaita, Ayu, M.D Yusuf, others meet next week
As part of moves to have a soft landing for the North in the present political dispensation and have a common front to wrestle power from President Goodluck Jonathan; former Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, and ex_vice President, Atiku Abubakar, have fixed a meeting of G15 for early next week.

The surprising scenario about the meeting was the realignment of forces especially between two presidential aspirants, Babangida and Atiku, to form a group called G15.

Also to attend the meeting where what they described as a ‘crucial decision’ would be taken are Aliyu Mohammed; former Inspector General, M.D Yusuf; one time Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma; former Minister of Police Affairs, General David Jemibewon (rtd), Alhaji Bello Kirfi; former Senate President, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu; Ex_Minister of Interior, Dr. Shettima Mustafa; one time Governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita; former Chief of Air Staff, AVM Hamza Abdullahi(rtd); Alhaji Magaji Dambatta; and former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Chief Patrick Adaba.
A source told Vanguard that the group which is steered by General Ibrahim Babangida and the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, was expected to take “crucial decisions” on issues affecting the polity, and in particular, on the contentious issue of zoning and power rotation.
The source added that at the meeting, members of the G15 would review the decision by majority of Northern governors to support the retention of the zoning arrangement by the PDP; resolutions of each of the19 state chapters of the Northern Leaders Forum; resolution of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, on zoning and that of the Northern Union.

CDC holds convention, adopts Jonathan

Meanwhile, the Congress for Democratic Change, CDC, held its convention, weekend, and became the first political party to formally adopt President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate.
The CDC at its national convention held at the Merit House, Abuja, ratified the decision of its National Executive Council, NEC, which had on June 28 decided on Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate for the election.
According to the party, though it was backing President Jonathan, the move did not connote that it was not fielding candidates for other elective positions in the country during the election. It, however, ruled out the possibility of the party fusing with any other party for the purpose of next year’s polls.

Answering questions from newsmen after the convention, the re_elected National Chairman of the party, Chief Edozie Madu, who noted that it became imperative for CDC to decide on Jonathan, said that President Jonathan was the messiah the country had been waiting for.
Madu who was elected unopposed to lead the party for another four years, said that the party never hid its admiration for PDP’s seven_point agenda as a platform for accelerating the economic development of the country hence its support for Jonathan.
He said: “If elected, Jonathan would be in the best position to deliver on the seven_point agenda started by his predecessor, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Jonathan is able, he is the messiah we need in Nigeria.”

The CDC national chairman stressed that most of the groups parading themselves as political parties were not in the real sense of the word. He noted: “Most of the parties just register and go to bed. But we have continued our membership drive since we were registered in 2006. Our membership base has hit 1.2 million.”

Other officers elected at the convention which was observed and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were Garba Ibrahim Yakasai, national vice chairman, North; Darlington Okoro, national vice_chairman, South; Alhaji Jimoh Abdullahi, national secretary; Princess Adaeze Igwe, national women leader; and Zainab Bello, national organizing secretary.
The rest were Muhammed Musa Bako, national director, organization; Lateef Abdullahi, national publicity secretary; Oluwatobi Fature, treasurer; and Abubakar Lawan, auditor.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/08/02/monarch-leads-norths-campaign-against-jonathan/