BEVERLY HILLS, April 17, (THEWILL) – The immediate past Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, on Friday revealed that northern governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) worked against the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
Jonathan lost that election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Aliyu, who was a former Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, said this was done because Jonathan reneged on an agreement not to seek a second term.
In a statement on Friday titled: “Why We Opposed Jonathan’s Second Term Bid –Babangida Aliyu,” the former Governor said, “All the governors in the North under the PDP supported the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to complete the remaining years of Yar’Adua’s tenure and to contest the next presidential election as a sole candidate of our great party.
“However, midway, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted on running for the office in 2015 against the grain of our earlier agreement.
“Since this was against the grain of our earlier agreement in the party, and which we, the governors in the North felt the North would have been short-changed if Jonathan had succeeded, we rose stoutly to insist on the agreement we all had.
“On that premise, we opposed Jonathan. But all along, Goodluck Jonathan had enjoyed every support from the governors in the North and the entire region.”
Aliyu added that the North stood disadvantaged by Yar’Adua’s death and the insistence that Jonathan should run for the office of President in 2015.
Aliyu further insisted that the northern governors did not oppose Jonathan but they opposed his insistence on running for a second term as the North would have lost out completely.
“We acted in good spirit and argued our points based on principle and on the subsisting agreement we had with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. That agreement was written and accepted by all. We didn’t oppose Jonathan but we were opposed to his insistence on a second term in office because the North would have lost out completely,” he said.
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