Jonathan: I'm Eligible to Run for Second Term

By Muhammad Bello President Goodluck Jonathan  Sunday dismissed the claim by the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, that he is statute barred from running for a second term in office. He also warned him to stop denigrating the Office of the President by using uncomplimentary words to criticise the incumbent. The president, in a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, described Akande’s criticism as a cheap ploy to gain popularity for the APC and divert attention from the alleged feud between the two prominent chieftains of the opposition party— former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, and former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu. The party, he predicted, would soon be destroyed by the conflicting ambitions of its leaders. Jonathan’s statement was in response to Akande’s criticism at the weekend that the “presidency is not for a kindergarten president”. Akande, while fielding questions from reporters at his country home in Ila-Orangun, Osun State, in reference to the president whom he had accused of being incapable of governing Nigeria, said: “What the country needs is a thinking leader not a kindergarten president with no solution to the problems plaguing the nation.” The president, in the statement by Abati, flayed Akande’s choice of words and also his claim that he is not eligible to run for the 2015 presidential election. According to him, Akande’s claim was a bid to bait the president, who has not declared his intention whether or not to contest for a second term, to make a categorical statement on his political future. He said: “Though President Jonathan has not indicated whether or not he is interested in a second term, Chief Akande, who has taken stock of his party and seen that they have no electable presidential material, is already trying to be clever by half by claiming the president is statute-barred from contesting in 2015, saying it will amount to a ‘third term’. “If this is the winning strategy of the APC, Chief Akande has every reason to panic because the issue of eligibility for election into the Office of the President has been settled by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, which provides as follows: Section 137 (1) A person shall not be qualified for election to the Office of President if - (b) he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections. “President Goodluck Jonathan has been elected into office on only one previous occasion and is therefore not statute-barred from running. “It is clear that the APC is seeking to bait the presidency to respond to it to achieve two purposes. The first purpose is to get their name into the press and gain name recognition for their party. How pathetic. “The second and more important reason is to divert the attention of the public from the festering feud between Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu over the overriding ambition of the two men, which is threatening to tear the new contraption, which is mistakenly referred to by the gullible as a party. “To the discerning, it is only a matter of time before ambition sinks the APC boat. It is only 2013 and already the big masquerades in the party are using undemocratic words like ‘must’, ‘nobody can stop’ and other military terms in discussing their presidential ticket. continued