HOW PRESIDENT JONATHAN PLANS TO WIN 2015 ELECTION’ – AMINU GAMAWA

If you think President Goodluck Jonathan has no plan or strategy on how to win the 2015 presidential election you are dead wrong. I just finished reading a document produced by Goodluck Jonathan’s political advisers and strategists.

The title of the document is “2013-2015: Political power and governance road map.” It is a carefully written document that identified and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of President Jonathan, and his chances of winning the 2015 presidential election, if he decides to contest. It is the good, the bad and the ugly of how Jonathan and his team will approach 2015.

In the introduction, authors of the document acknowledged that a new political order has emerged which seriously pose a threat to the political order created by Jonathan and his team. According to the document, “The public perception of government, the tension and contradictions within the PDP, extremist insurgencies and grave national security concerns, and desperation by the opposition parties to cobble together a mega-party are concrete indications of the struggle between an old and a newly constituted national power arrangement.”

2015 PRESIDENCY: I’M UNDER PRESSURE TO RUN - JONATHAN

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, admitted that he was under pressure to seek a second term in office, saying, over 1665 campaign groups have volunteered to work for his re-election in 2015.
The president however said the pressure notwithstanding, he would have to wait until 2014 before making his decision known to Nigerians.
The president’s presumed second term bid has been the thrust of the festering crisis in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He has also consistently reminded Nigerians that talks about 2015 elections were distractive and would not comment on such.
But the leadership of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, has restated its determination to wrest political power from the PDP.

2015: LAMIDO/AMAECHI CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION DEBUTS IN KADUNA

Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and his Rivers State counterpart Rotimi Ameachi’s rumoured interest in 2015 presidential election has received a boost; a campaign organisation for that purpose has been launched in Kaduna. This was made in a statement by Alhaji Bilya Mohammed Lawal who is the National Coordinator Lamido/Amaechi Campaign Organisation.
Lawal while launching the campaign for the joint ticket of the two governors appealed to Nigerians to support the new movement adding that the duo had proved their worth in their respective states.

2015: JONATHAN FACES IMPEACHMENT THREAT

•Mark warns against another civil war
Leaders of the factional group in the troubled ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seem to be consolidating their hold on the party with moves for possible impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan if he refuses to jettison his yet to be declared aspiration to contest the 2015 Presidential poll.
The ‘New PDP,’ as the splinter group is known, it was gathered, has started to compile signatures in both chambers of the National Assembly to move against the President if their conditions for resolution of the crisis currently rocking the party were not met.
Apparently realising their possible superior numerical strength and the fact that the balance of power may have tilted in their favour, the new group is telling the President to either forget his 2015 ambition or get ready for impeachment.

2015: PEACE TALKS STUCK AS JONATHAN WON’T DROP BID

President under pressure to reject governors’ conditions
AMID its desperate search for peace, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to have remained struck in the mud of trouble.
It suddenly put off yesterday a scheduled peace meeting between its leaders and its aggrieved governors.
It emerged last night that the refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to make any commitment on his perceived 2015 ambition and alleged investigation of governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led to the abrupt postponement of the talks, which should have been a follow-up to the Sunday meeting at the Villa.
Besides, a group loyal to the President, Media Network for Transformation (MNT), yesterday asked the Presidency to discontinue talks with the aggrieved PDP governors.
In a statement by its Coordinator, Mr. Goodluck Ebelo, MNT said only Nigerians can determine the fate of Jonathan in 2015 and not a group of governors.

JONATHAN, OBASANJO PLOT 2015 STRATEGIES

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan have finally settled their differences, with reports indicating that the two leaders are now plotting multi-layer strategies to ensure victory for the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 general elections.

Details of the new rapprochement were, however, sketchy even though it was learnt that both leaders have agreed on a broad range of issues, including the need to ensure unity and victory for the ruling party in the next general elections.

While the media has been awash with reports of Obasanjo mediating between the governors and the president, Saturday Tribune was told that almost all the media reports failed to mention the direct reconciliation that took place between the two leaders, which even preceded the ongoing peace moves within the party.

2015 PRESIDENCY: PDP PLOTS CONSENSUS TICKET FOR JONATHAN

LAGOS—Leading officials of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are in fresh moves to push President Goodluck Jonathan through a rancour-free contest for the party’s ticket for the 2015 presidential election.
The party apparatchik that had earlier proposed the adoption of a right of first refusal for the president and governors are now proposing a double-phased convention to accommodate the concerns of party members aggrieved at the earlier proposal of the right of first refusal.
Among those in strong opposition to the right of first refusal are some two-term governors from the North and former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.
In the new move being pushed by party leaders, President Jonathan and first term governors desiring a second term would be considered for a referendum on their achievements in the first term before a party convention. As part of the referendum, delegates to the party convention would be asked to affirm a yea or nay on the president’s performance upon which he would be adopted as the party’s consensus candidate.

2015 CAMPAIGN: JONATHAN’S MEN FIGHT FOR POSITIONS, FUNDS

A major crack has been noticed in the fold of loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan: they are now engaged in a fierce battle for the control of the campaign structure of the president ahead of the 2015 presidential election, LEADERSHIP Sunday has learnt.
A top presidency official told our correspondent that, rather than harmonise their positions and state why they should be part of any move to “soften the ground” for the president towards 2015, those involved are in “a blame game of character assassination and name-dropping”.
The presidency has, however, declared that any move to link President Jonathan with campaigns toward 2015 was premature, saying those identified to be spearheading the move were on their own.
The presidency’s denial notwithstanding, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that at least four major groups claiming to be working for the president’s 2015 re-election project have emerged.

JONATHAN MUST GET SECOND TERM – CLARK

Former Information Minister Chief Edwin Clark said yesterday that President Goodluck Jonathan must get second term like his civilian predecessors.

Clark said this yesterday when he led elders from the South-south and Middle-belt, under the umbrella of the Congress for Equality and Change to the State House, Abuja yesterday.

Addressing Villa correspondents after the close-door meeting which lasted for over two hours, the leader of the group, Clark, said just like all other former elected presidents of the country, Jonathan is entitled to seek a fresh presidential term in 2015.

2015: ANENIH PROPOSES AUTOMATIC TICKETS FOR JONATHAN, GOVS

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has asked members of the party to consider automatic tickets for President Goodluck Jonathan, performing governors and members of the National Assembly.

Chief Anenih, who stated this in a message delivered to a meeting of selected leaders of the party, on Friday, in Abuja, said that the proposal would ensure that the primaries of the party become less rancorous.

ACN BEHIND INSURGENCY, SAYS PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) has said that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was behind the insurgency threatening the peace of the country. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh, the PDP based its declaration on the opposition party’s condemnation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of state of emergency in Adamwa, Borno and Yobe states on Tuesday.

The ACN has faulted the process as it submitted that the Federal Government did not seek the endorsement of the National Assembly as stipulated in the amended 1999 Constitution. But Metuh in the statement disclosed that the opposition party was against emergency rule as he claimed the “ACN and its cohorts in the opposition are behind insurgents and therefore, must subvert every measure taken by government to tackle escalating insurgency.”

2015: BUHARI WOOS IBB, GUSAU

The desire of northern leaders to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from retaining his seat after the 2015 election has received a boost with the acceptance of a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, to bury his differences with his then successor in office, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) and form a formidable alliance that will give victory to the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC) at the next polls.

The relationship between Buhari and Babangida has not been cordial since the latter overthrew the regime of the former in a bloodless military coup in 1983.

To achieve reconciliation with Babangida and other northern leaders in his camp, like former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Mohammed Aliyu Gusau, Saturday Sun gathered that Buhari has set up an eight-man high-powered committee “that will not only work on smoothening the relationship between him (Buhari) and a section of the northern elite but also seek their support for his nomination as APC presidential candidate and at the election proper.”

2015: IT’S EITHER A NORTHERNER OR NO MORE NIGERIA - FAROUK ADAMU ALIYU

Again, the issue of Nigeria and her governance took a centre stage yesterday, with the threat by a former member of the House of Representatives and a chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change, Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu that ‘it is either a Northerner as President in 2015 or there will be no more Nigeria.

Aliyu’s outburst in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Abuja was a direct response to the ex-Niger Delta militant and leader of Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Mujahid Asari Dokubo declaration on Sunday that ‘there will be no peace in the country, if Jonathan was denied a second term’.

2015: I’M STILL CONSULTING – JONATHAN

LAGOS—For the umpteenth time, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said he was yet to take a decision on whether or not to seek the 2015 presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, dismissing as ill-founded reports that he has empanelled trusted loyalists to strategise on a campaign.

Besides him, former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, another probable candidate for the PDP presidential ticket, also insisted, yesterday, that he was still making wide consultations on a third bid for the Presidency.

21-MEMBER C’TTEE EMPANELLED FOR JONATHAN’S SECOND TERM BID

President, PDP NWC members, governors sheathe their swords

Notwithstanding President Goodluck Jonathan's repeated promises that he would not take a decision on whether or not he would seek a second term in office until 2014, some stakeholders in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and ministers are proceeding with behind-the-scenes preparations to make the president contest for the office again.

THISDAY gathered at the weekend that the president's aides and associates have set up a 21-member committee to advise Jonathan on the viability of his entry into the presidential contest in 2015.

NOBODY CAN STOP JONATHAN IN 2015, SAYS CLARK

Former Federal Commissioner for Information under the administration of General Yakubu Gowon, Edwin Clark, has reiterated that President Goodluck Jonathan deserves to seek re-election come 2015.

He noted that minority people in the country have never been given their pride of place until providence brought Jonathan to power, adding that any unity that was not on equal basis cannot augur well for the development of the country.

Clark, a prominent Ijaw leader, spoke when the Ijaw communities represented by Izon-Ebe Oil Producing Communities Forum led by Moses Edougha visited him in Kiagbodo, Burutu Local Council area of Delta State.

2015: JONATHAN TO RETAIN SAMBO AS RUNNING MATE

In the face of plot against Vice-President Namadi Sambo by some vested interests in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan has foreclosed dropping him as running mate in the 2015 elections.

As such, those lobbying to replace Sambo as running mate to President Jonathan may be disappointed after all.

In the past weeks, Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema has been pushing to be named as a replacement for Sambo in the 2015 presidential election. A source in the Presidency told National Mirror that Shema has enlisted the support of the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadhome, in pushing the agenda.

ATIKU OFFERS ALTERNATIVE TO PDP GOVERNORS, SAYS SUPPORT ME

·         May contest presidential election on APA ticket

As the 2015 presidential election draws near, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has opened up consultations with eminent stakeholders, including 11 governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the Northern Elders group to decide whether to contest the presidential election on the platform of his party or seek another party to realise his dream.

THISDAY reliably learnt that the former vice-president has also met with a group of intellectuals to advise him on the viability of him contesting the 2015 presidential election.

2015: YAR’ADUA’S MEN PLOT SAMBO’S REMOVAL •TIP SHEMA AS REPLACEMENT •LAMIDO ALSO IN THE RACE

THERE is tension within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), following moves being made in some quarters for the replacement of Vice president Namadi Sambo ahead of the 2015 election.

It was learnt that loyalists of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua are championing the fresh bid, which they described as moves to properly immortalise the memory of the late president.

It was gathered that the argument among Yar’Adua’s loyalists who are rooting for Sambo’s replacement with Katsina State governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema was that it would further cement the Jonathan-Yar’Adua ticket which was kicked off in 2007.

2015: PRO-JONATHAN GROUPS COMMENCE STRATEGIES

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan 2015 support groups have commenced moves aimed at ensuring that full campaigns hit the grounds for the president once he eventually declares, in 2014, to contest for a second tenure in office.

The groups include mostly support organisations for the president in 2011.

They are said to be currently working in alliance, reaching out to member associations and securing their understanding to commence early preparations for the campaigns.

Their move is coming despite the belief that the president would not want the politicking to have started earlier than 2014 which he made public.