New York [RR] ABUJA—special adviser (special duties) to President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Isaiah Balat, has described the forthcoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries for 2011 poll as favorable for President Goodluck Jonathan in his political ambitions.

According to him, “The President is not afraid of any of the other aspirants,” Reports say Balat told reporters in an interview in Kaduna State this past weekend.

Our source told RR that Jonathans expected nothing but victory in the general election and added, “He would demystify what he described

Photo: [L – R] The Special Adviser, Special Duties, Vice President’s Office, Sen. Isaiah Balat with Former PDP National Chairman, Chief Barnabas Gemade at the Northern Political Summit at the International Trade Fair Complex, Kaduna on July 15, 2010.

as misleading impression that Jonathan may not win without the support of the north”, others say rigging is looming in the corner, it depends on who will out-rig each other, Babangida or Jonathan, etc, critics critically questioned the veracity of such utterances considering bogus and questionable voters registration and votes validations that failed woefully.

Balat said, “We are ready to face anyone in the primaries. We are not scared. Whoever has agenda, let him bring them out and we will put it on the table and move on. It is my belief that Jonathan will carry the day.

“President Jonathan has gone far in his consultations and he will officially declare his intention to offer himself to his party for nomination to contest the presidential election come January 2011.

“We believe that we have enough support for Jonathan to pick the ticket,” he said, adding that it was a healthy development for other aspirants to join the race.

“That is why we insisted that Atiku should be given a waiver and the party chairman has done that. The fact that there are governors contesting does not frighten the President.

“We all know the June 12 palaver and the genesis of it as well as the agitations that the people of the south-west made that made it possible for power to shift to that part of the country.

“We also cannot ignore the fact that the south-south region has also contributed a lot to the development and the economy of Nigeria.

“There have also been agitations in that part of the country about marginalization and that has been on.

“That was why the former President, late Umaru YarAdua brought in a very wonderful innovation which has never been practiced anywhere in the world, the amnesty programme.

“What we are saying is that when circumstances come, we take it as the will of God. It is not our own doing. If YarAdua was alive, he would have been the candidate seeking the second term and nobody would have debated that.

“Except for a candidate that performed woefully, he naturally should get the support of his party. Every party would wish to have its candidate sitting in that office and the PDP has a sitting President and I think they should count themselves lucky that they have somebody who is piloting the affairs of this country; who has brought peace and is consolidating on the peace that has been laid all over the country.

“The south-south as a region has always aligned politically with the far northern part of Nigeria or what you call the core north.

“So, if they supported us to produce the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) government and produce the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) government and have been with us in PDP, then at the most critical period, you want to dump them?

“Let us not forget that if the south-south had aligned with the Biafran cause, there would not have been Nigeria today, it would have been a separate region. They stood with us and that was where the federal troops went through to cut off Biafra supplies. So, this kind of sacrifice merits reciprocation.

“We are not going to tell anybody not to run. However, if we are not saying that people should not run, they should also not ask Jonathan not to run. Allow him to run and we go for the convention and at the end of the day, we see who would win. The man with a better programme should carry the day and we believe that we are presenting a better candidate who has something to show.

“We pray to have a rancor-free election as long as the candidates are going to conduct themselves in a credible manner and not bring in divisive issues to becloud the elections.

“Even if you have 10,000 governors contesting, what I know is that more than two thirds of the PDP governors are going to support Jonathan.

On the possibility of conducting a free and fair election in 2011, he said: “The law says to Jega, conduct free and fair election. They have passed an Electoral Act for him and everything is embodied in that Act. Does he need to come to Jonathan to do that? Why should a sitting President interfere with that?

“It is because people have a mindset that once you are in office you can use it to trample on peoples right. If the 2011 elections fail, I will blame it on Jega and not on Jonathan.

“We are not underrating anyone, but we are saying that those of us supporting him have a track record of delivering democracy to Nigerians and that the north as a body do not vote together. If you go back to the presidential elections that have taken place before this dispensation.

“During the NPN days, the entire north-east voted GNPP, Plateau voted NPP and Kano voted PRP. People are bluffing with talk because they don’t have the number and they cannot deliver. We are going to have a credible Nigerian as President whether he is from the north or from the south because we want to keep Nigeria together.

“All those talking do not have the number and so they are bluffing because Kaduna, Kano, Plateau will not vote with them. We have told them that they should not do anything that at the end of the day will diminish their myth.

“If you create a situation whereby your myth is broken, you are finished and I know that those talking about the north giving block votes do not have the number.

“You were witnesses to what happened when we had the Northern Political Summit which was as a result of the debate at the time about zoning of the presidency to whichever part of the country.

“The decision of the summit has always been that President Jonathan is entitled to run for the presidency of the country. Constitutionally, he is not barred from running and the circumstances that happened entitle him to run,” he noted.

Republic Report says we are witnesses of the looming electoral irregularities and ballot stuffing and political disappearances since alleged return to democratic process in 1999. RR will continue to monitor the political development in this multi-country called Nigeria.

Read more….

Obasanjo ‘Reconsidering’ Jonathan Endorsement
By Ademola Adeyemo, 09.12.2010
President Goodluck Jonathan may have scored an own goal with his choice of Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State as his campaign co-ordinator in the South-west, THISDAY has learnt.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who led the South-west Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to endorse Jonathan for the 2011 presidential race a fortnight ago, is said to be unhappy with the choice of Daniel who is at loggerheads with Obasanjo and virtually every political heavyweight in the state where the former president hails from.

Obasanjo is also reported to be unsettled by the imminent trial of his former aide and confidante, Mr. Adeyanju Bodunde, over the $180 million Hallib-urton bribe scandal.

“The former president believes it is trial by proxy,” the source said, hinting that the zone might come up with another position to declare itself “neutral” in the presidential race.

The endorsement of Jonathan two weeks ago had created ripples in the camp of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who is also interested in the race.

In a statement by the Media and Communication Director of his campaign, Prince Kassim Afegbua, Babangida had accused Obasanjo of going back on his word to be “neutral”, stating: “The recent reported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan who has not declared his intention to run defeats the earlier neutrality position of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on choice of aspirants. As one of the leaders of the party, a former president and elder statesman, we expect that his word should be his bond. We will not be drawn into any argument with those who easily suspect the political moves of former President Obasanjo, but we insist that a true leader should stand by his word.”

But former presidential spokesman and PDP chieftain in Ogun State, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the endorsement was a joint decision by the leaders of the party in the South-west as “anybody who was somebody was in attendance”.
Last week, Jonathan finally informed 11 PDP governors at a meeting in Abuja that he would be stand in the January poll.
He appointed six governors from the geo-political zones to co-ordinate his campaign.

They are Governors Ibrahim Shema for the North-west, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State for the North-east, Gabriel Suswam of Benue for Nort-central, Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State for the South-east, Liyel Imoke for the South-south and Daniel for the South-west.
Daniel is to be assisted by a close associate of Obasanjo and former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.
Daniel, meanwhile, had openly canvassed the candidature of Babangida in the past.

Speaking earlier in Abeokuta at his 50th birthday, Daniel called on Nigerians to forgive Babangida for his “past errors of judgment”, saying the ability to forgive would enhance development and harmony in the country.
In what was understood to be a subtle campaign for IBB’s presidential ambition, Daniel urged Nigerians to erase the sins of the former military ruler from their memory.

The governor said though Nigerians may fault IBB, “some of his achievements while holding the exalted office, his passion for the progress and peace of Nigeria could hardly be faulted”.

In the meantime, Obasanjo is said to be unhappy with the president over the the trial of Bodunde, his former PA.
Bodunde is to be tried over an allegation that he received $5 million in cash payments from six other suspects – George Mark, Jeffrey Tesler, Hans George Christ, Heinrich J. Stockhausen, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Bilfinger Berger GMBH.

www.thisdayonline.com

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