Jonathan in Secret Talks with Northern Leaders
•Atiku: There’ll be vacancy in Aso Rock
By Imam Imam in Lagos and Chuks Okocha in Abuja, 12.07.2010
President Goodluck Jonathan has been holding secret talks with key Northern political leaders over the way out of the zoning crisis and is weighing the option of serving just one term in office, THISDAY can report.

Also yesterday, former presidential aspirant, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, moved to reopen the zoning controversy when he wrote Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, threatening to “reconsider” his membership of the party if zoning is not adhered to.

Northern leaders, including governors sympathetic to Jonathan, have proposed the option of one term and a return of power to the North in 2015 to reduce the tension in the polity and create a “peaceful atmosphere” before the 2011 elections.
THISDAY learnt that General TY Danjuma and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, are also involved in this move which has been considered as a “political solution” to the controversy.

The major obstacle to his outright endorsement by the North, according to THISDAY sources, is the fear that he may seek a second term in 2015, thereby keeping the region out of presidential power for nine years.

Information available to THISDAY indicates that the power brokers have agreed in principle to support Jonathan's aspiration on the condition that he would in turn commit “in writing” to support a Northern candidate to succeed him in 2015.

“The naked truth is that we cannot stop President Jonathan from running,” a traditional ruler told the newspaper yesterday. “No matter the argument we want to make, it will be difficult to ask a sitting president to vacate office when it is within his constitutional right to run. We also do not want to damage our relationship with the South-south which is as old as Nigeria.”
He said, however, that the president should also consider the political dilemma of the North as it would be “unfair” to keep power in the South for 17 out of 20 years if Jonathan seeks re-election in 2015.

“From 1999 to 2019, that is if Jonathan seeks re-election, it would mean the South ruled for 17 years while the North ruled for only three years, between 2007 and 2010. It is therefore commonsense for us to expect the president to spend only one term and go in the interest of national unity,” he said, confirming that the Northern power brokers had already held discussions with the president on the issue.

THISDAY also learnt that some of the emirs and leaders of thought made their positions known in various meetings with the Director-General of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, during his visits to the states in the North as part of his mobilisation tour to states ahead of the PDP presidential primary.
The newspaper could not confirm if Jonathan was well disposed to the one-term option, but he is said to be seriously considering it.

“I can confirm that the president himself is not averse to it because he believes one term is enough to make an impact,” a political associate of the president told THISDAY. “His belief is that seeking second term is one of the reasons many leaders are afraid of taking tough decisions so that they could be re-elected into office.”

Jonathan’s decision to stand in the presidential election was based on the argument that he and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were elected on a joint ticket in 2007 and he should be allowed to serve out the two terms.

THISDAY gathered that many of the Northern governors believe that if they support Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2011, it would signal the death of their own hopes of being president.
However, it is believed that if Jonathan agrees to the one-term option, every aspiring Northern governor would have an equal chance of succeeding him in 2015.

Babangida, in his letter to Nwodo, said “the judiciary has made its pronouncement, our duty is to comply,” referring to a judgment of an Abuja High Court, which acknowledged the existence of zoning arrangement in PDP but stated that it cannot enforce its application, thus failing to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2011 poll.

Babangida in a letter dated December 6, 29010, which he personally signed, said the verdict was only open to one interpretation that zoning exists within PDP and that if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had any doubt, it had been cleared.
He said the ruling was binding on the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and every member of the party including President Jonathan, threatening that if the party had become so helpless, many of them would have no alternative but to reconsider their continued membership.

Responding to the letter last night, Nwodo said he would present it to the party’s NWC for deliberation.
The letter is entitled “Challenges of the Judgement of High Court of the Federal Capital in Suit No. FCT/HC/ 2425/2010/- Sani Aminu Dutsinma Vs PDP, Re: Rotation and Zoning of Party and Public Offices”.

Babangida said in the letter: “As you are well aware, some controversies have, for sometime now, arisen over the decision to jettison the principle of zoning as enshrined in the constitution of the party.

“It is my view, and that, I believe, is the view of many public spirited, patriotic and responsible members of our party that to do so would violate the provisions of Section 7.2(c) of the constitution of the PDP, which provides as follows:
 “In pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”

He said the above section of the PDP constitution was further amplified by paragraph 2(c) of the preamble to the said constitution which provides that: “To create socio-political conditions conducive to natural peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices amongst the diverse people of our country and devolving powers equitably between the federal, state and local governments in the spirit of federation.”

Referring to the court suit, IBB said that the above provisions of the party’s constitution relating to rotation and zoning came up for interpretation before Justice L. H. Gumi, Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The former military president referred to some of the provisions of Article 7.2(c) of the 1st Defendant’s constitution 2009 as amended, which he said recognises the principle of zoning and rotation of party and public elective offices.

The said article, he said, is still subsisting and binding on the party, its organs and members.
He told Nwodo: “As a founding member of the party and in fact as one of its principal officers at the time, and as its present chairman, no one is in a better position than yourself to understand and to execute the party’s constitution.

“It was not too long ago that you were elected, almost unanimously, as chairman of our party. It was a time of crises when there were agitations for reform. You were elected precisely because we were all convinced that you had both the wisdom and the courage to restore the party to the path of truth and justice.

“Under your leadership, this issue of zoning and rotation of offices was discussed by the NEC of the party and the committee came to the conclusion that rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices is a policy of our party – a policy enshrined in the constitution of the party.

“Having come to that conclusion it was the duty of the committee to enforce it. The duty of the committee in that regard was made clear by the learned Chief Judge when he declared: ‘It is domestic issue and not such as would be justiciable in a court of law. The power to nominate and sponsor candidates to an election is vested in a political party and the exercise of this right is the domestic affair of the party.’

Babangida added: “If, in the past, the NEC had any doubts as to the meaning of the provisions of the relevant sections of the constitution relating to these matters, such doubts have now been resolved by the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in the suit above-mentioned. It is clear from the said judgment that the provisions of the constitution are so clear as not to require the assistance of judicial interpretation in order to understand them.

Babangida said: “Whatever doubts the NEC of the party may have had have now been removed. Every member of the party is required to comply with the provisions of the party constitution. And so is the president who is the leader of the party.
“As great as the office of President is, we should never forget that it does not precede membership of the party. On the contrary, it is membership of the party that precedes the office of President of the Federal Republic so far as the president was not elected as an independent candidate.

“And so I urge the NEC of the party to enforce the constitution of the party in its totality in the forthcoming election. To do otherwise is to condone this attempt at a gross and deliberate violation of the constitution of the party. To do otherwise is tantamount to a declaration that the NEC of the party rejects the principles of equity, justice and fairness enshrined in the PDP constitution.”

Also yesterday, former vice-president and presidential aspirant of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday took issues with former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Anthony Anenih, who said there is no vacancy in Aso Rock by 2011.
Atiku asked Nigerians to discountenance the former Works Minister, saying there is vacancy at the Presidential Villa and that a brand new president will emerge by May 29, 2011.

The former vice-president who is the consensus candidate of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF) in PDP described Anenih as a political “dead duck,” struggling for relevance.
In a statement by his campaign organization, Atiku said Anenih is no longer taken seriously because of his antecedents.
He said: “Nigerians should be wary of the utterances of Anenih. The sovereignty lies with the people and not with Anenih. He does not have the mandate to speak on behalf of the people who are yet to cast their votes in the 2011 elections.”

 “No Vacancy,” Atiku said, was the same battle cry Anenih used to win favour with the late Gen. Sani Abacha, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and now Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
The former vice-president wondered how Anenih who he said had no political space in his home state of Edo “because of his widespread unpopularity can now promise the presidency to someone else”.

Atiku described Anenih as a drag on Nigerian democracy, stating that it is ridiculous to describe the presidency not vacant when the President himself has  pledged to conduct free and fair elections.

He said: “If indeed, the presidency is not vacant, then there is no reason to conduct a presidential election in 2011 because the winner is already known according to Anenih’s odd theory of democracy”.
The former vice-president warned President Jonathan to distance himself from Anenih and his ilk or risk losing credibility in his avowed commitment to free and fair elections in 2011.

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