Former Presidential Spokesman, Olorogun Ima Niboro, has dismissed speculations that if former President Goodluck Jonathan is re-elected, he can be removed after two years by the law courts.
Niboro, in a statement on Tuesday, castigated those who are “peddling blatant falsehood in a bid to swing popular opinion in the South against the planned return of Jonathan to the presidency.”
According to him, “there’s absolutely no basis for this wicked assertion. The new law on succession has no retroactive effect. If there was any possibility of this scenario, that would have been the major legal challenge to his 2015 election bid. It was not an issue then, and it will not be an issue now.”
He pointed out that Jonathan was duly elected to his first full tenure in 2011 after he completed the President Umaru Musa Yardua/Jonathan tenure, following the unfortunate demise of the leader of that administration.
“By law, he was entitled to his own presidency of two full terms. He has done one term. He’s entitled to the second and final one”
Niboro, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria, stated that it will be a far-sighted strategy for the party to field Jonathan for the presidency, adding that the clear neutrality of the former president is the bonding cement APC needs to unite and win the next election.
His words: “I am a well known member of the party, who has access to many other leaders, and I know that fielding Jonathan will help APC rather than harm it. Ambitious elements in the main opposition party know this, that is why a few of them are even more vociferous against Jonathan than even members of the APC. Their only plan to gain the presidency is the hope that APC self destructs between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. And they fear that Jonathan’s emergence would stabilise APC and scuttle their ambitions.
“To my mind, Jonathan is an important and strategic game changer. Fielding him kills many birds with a single stone. It gives the party a breather, the chance to recalibrate its internal dynamics, and solidify its position as the party to beat in all subsequent elections in Nigeria.”
Niboro also addressed the opinion in some circles that re-electing Jonathan for a final single term will shortchange the South, describing it as a not very well thought out view.
Said he: “A second term is not promised in a plural democracy, and Nigeria is no exception. What guarantees do we have that any one else elected as President will get a second term? Jonathan himself lost his second term bid in 2015. Even the most powerful president in the world, Donald Trump of the United States, lost his own second term bid last year. The only thing that guarantees a second term is a coalition forces working seamlessly in a specific direction. That’s what got President Muhammadu Buhari reelected in 2019. But it is not promised. It is not guaranteed.”
He stated that Jonathan’s track records are clear and unambiguous, and his love for an inclusive and united Nigeria without blemish.
“If APC fields him, the next election would be a straightforward landslide win for the party,” he said.
