2015: Efforts to stop Jonathan will fail – Presidency

Presidency has assured Nigerians that attempts aimed at forcing out President Goodluck Jonathan from the 2015 election will fail.

This position was made known on Monday by his Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ahmed Ali Gulak.
In a chat with State House correspondents on Monday, Gulak also reacted to the meeting between the President and the aggrieved governors of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday night.

He maintained that the party remains strong despite the current crisis, stressing that the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, was safe as the party leader.

“We are talking, we are dialoguing, peace is gradually returning to PDP in accordance with the constitution of the party and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These two documents guide us, we abide by them,” the aide said.

“PDP is the only national party that has maintained its name and identity since 1998 till date, nobody can beat that record.”

On demands of the aggrieved governors, including the sacking of Tukur, Jonathan dropping his rumored ambition and a halt to the harassment of some of them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he said: “We have to be guided by the constitution. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended has given Mr. President the right to offer himself for a second term if he so chooses and nobody, whether individual or group, can abridge his constitutional right.

“If he decides not to contest, let it be on his own volition not because he is intimidated or cajoled into doing that. Secondly, about EFCC, I have said it before and will say it again, Mr. President will never ask such an independent body not to carry out their job or statutory function. The third is about national chairman and I have said he emerged through the process of election and his removal is also guided by constitutional provisions.

Gulak further stated that “The national chairman has no problem, he was elected and I always say that as there are processes for election, there are processes for removal or resignation. So nobody can cajole anybody to say the national chairman will not survive. Nobody is against the national chairman.”

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