In a first-of-its-kind show of allegiance to President Goodluck Jonathan, members of the Federal Executive Council have said “there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2015”, while also calling for an automatic ticket for the president, come 2015 elections.
Boni Haruna, minister of youth developments, and former governor of Adamawa State made the position known on behalf of other ministers at the National Summit of the Goodluck Support Groups in Abuja on Tuesday.
“There is peace in the country and there is no need to ask the man responsible for the peace to leave the scene,” Haruna said. “President Jonathan has done well and because of this, I and other ministers are saying there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2015.”
According to a communiqué delivered to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, at the end of their National Summit in Abuja, a coalition of campaign groups, under the aegis of Goodluck Support Groups, have also urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to allow Jonathan run on an automatic ticket in the 2015 presidential election.
The communiqué was delivered to Anyim on behalf of the group by the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Professor Rufa’I Alkali, who is also the National Coordinator of the group.
He pointed out that between 7,000 and 8,000 groups, with about eight million members nationwide, signed the communiqué, calling on Jonathan to declare his second term ambition and the PDP to nominate him as its presidential candidate in the 2015 elections.
“We the leaders, patrons and sponsors of over 7,000 non-governmental organisation and support groups that make up the Goodluck Support Group, after careful review of the performance of the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, and the current development conditions of our country, Nigeria, hereby resolve as follows,” the communiqué read.
“That President Goodluck Jonathan has performed very well. That it is in the interest of Nigeria and all Nigerians that his transformation agenda should continue beyond 2015. That President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan should step forward and contest for the 2015 presidential election.
“That the Peoples Democratic Party should nominate Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as its candidate for the 2015 presidential election; that as leaders and representatives of the over 7,0000, 8,000 organisations with over eight million membership nationwide, do hereby affirm our loyalty and unqualified support for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and undertake to deliver him overwhelmingly at the polls in 2015.”
