Former federal minister of
information and elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark has stated why President
Goodluck Jonathan’s candidature in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries
ahead of the 2015 presidential election cannot be negotiated.
The practice in democratic presidential system of government is
that an incumbent president remains the sole candidate of a political party at
the party’s convention, if he or she is willing to contest for a second term in
office, the Ijaw national leader said.
Clark stated this yesterday while addressing a press conference
at his Asokoro, Abuja, residence.
He said, “This is the practice in the United States from where
Nigeria copied her own model of presidential system of government.”
In an open letter to Niger State governor Babangida Aliyu, Clark
challenged the governor to enquire whether any candidate in the Democratic
Party in the US contested the primaries with President Bill Clinton when he
decided to stand for a second tenure.
Governor Aliyu had raised the alarm that there was an agreement
between the 19 northern governors and Jonathan that he would run for only one
term in office as president of the country.
But in his letter to Aliyu and made available to LEADERSHIP last
night, Clark challenged Aliyu thus: “Again, find out whether any Republican
Party faithful contested the presidential primaries with George W. Bush when he
desired a second tenure and, recently, whether any Democratic Party member
contested with President Barack Obama when he offered himself for a second
tenure in 2012.”
Clark further stated in the letter that when the US type of
presidential system was adopted in Nigeria in 1978/1979, former President Shehu
Shagari was the sole candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) when he
chose to run for a second tenure in the 1983 presidential election.
He said, “The list is endless. In 2003, it was only through the
instigation of some governors led by Chief James Ibori who were disappointed
that former vice-president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar stepped down for his
boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, that Dr. Alex Ekwueme was persuaded
to contest the presidential primaries against the party’s decision.
“To lend credence to the fact that a sitting president is
entitled to a second term, the ambitious and unpatriotic governors and some
northern conservative politicians confirmed this constitutional provision by
saying that it was the second term of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
that the north wanted to complete in 2011.”
Clark noted that Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians, saying every
Nigerian has equal rights to aspire to the highest office in this country and
should remain in office in accordance with the constitution of Nigeria.
“We can no longer tolerate a situation where people believe that
they are superior to others and others are inferior citizens who must not enjoy
the same privileges they enjoy. Our centenary celebration is based on the
equality of all citizens and we must be tolerant of ourselves now more than
ever before,” he added.
Clark declared that nobody could stop Jonathan from contesting
the 2015 presidential election if he so wished, stressing that not even the
Northern Governors’ Forum can suppress and intimidate Jonathan from indicating
interest to run in 2015.
He vehemently denied ever attending any meeting where such an
agreement was reached, adding that even if there was any, it could not be
implemented because it is in conflict with the 1999 Constitution which
stipulates two terms of four years each for any governor or president in
office seeking a re-election.
According to Clark, Aliyu is mischievous, insincere and
dishonest.
Source: Leadership
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