Jonathan’s 2015 Men

Some supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan are not only subtly campaigning, but are already laying the groundwork for a stress-less return to Aso Rock in 2015

Chances are, if you meet President Goodluck Jonathan today and ask him if he will re-contest for the presidency in 2015, he will not waste time in replying that he has not made up his mind on the issue. But if the President decides to give a more generous answer, he will affirm that he will take a decision on the issue by 2014, a year to the general elections, when most Nigerians would have started feeling the positive impact and policies of his administration. Indeed, this has been the standard response of the Presidency to the issue of anytime the question of President Jonathan and the 2015 presidential election is raised. Many Nigerians will argue though, that the continuous claims of disinterest of the President in the 2015 presidential elections amounts to no more than the proverbial trying to hide behind a finger. And this is not just because of the much talked about body language of the President.

The crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for instance stemmed from attempts by the President and his loyalists to gain control of the ruling party and knock off every hint of opposition within the ruling party as 2015 approaches. In addition, Jonathan 2015 presidential election groups and offices are springing up like cheap mushrooms across the country. And though the President himself has not mounted the campaign rostrum, his foot soldiers have been all over the country, telling whoever cares to listen that there will be no vacancy in Aso Rock Presidential Villa in 2015.

Patience Jonathan 

Leading a flank of the campaign is the wife of the President, Patience. Defying recent notice by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the time is not ripe to start mounting the rostrums to ask for votes of the electorate, she recently kicked off the 2015 campaign of her husband during her 11-day visit to Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State. Apart from the pain caused residents as most parts of the city were virtually locked down during the visit, the expansive residence of the First Lady was a beehive of activity as she took time to receive different groups and individuals who rabidly pledged their support for the second term ambition of her husband.

On 20 June, Dame Jonathan received one of such groups, made up of 135 chiefs from Kalabari Kingdom. Chief Dumo Oruobu, Anyawo XI of Bakana, who led the group, said the purpose of their visit was to send a message to the President that he must run for the presidency in 2015. As they put it: “We, hereby, state that the question of choice does not arise. Our son should run for office in 2015. We assure him that we will do everything within our collective ability to help him achieve that objective.”

Speaking against the background of the alleged interest of Governor Rotimi Amaechi to contest in the 2015 elections, the First Lady told her visitors that the people of the region should close ranks to ensure that the number one position did not slip from their hands. In her words: “The presidency is an opportunity that fell unto us on a platter of gold. We shouldn’t throw it away. We have had people that contested from this region but didn’t win. We didn’t fight, we didn’t pay. God willed it to us so we shouldn’t use politics to fight one another or destroy our kingdom.”

In the same vein, during a courtesy visit to the Apiti of Rumueme and President-in-council, Rumueme Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nyenwe-Eli Omunnakwe Nyeche Nsirim, on Tuesday 18 June, Mrs. Jonathan called for massive support for her husband anytime he declares his interest to re-contest for the presidency in 2015.  “My husband is also your son and by the grace of God, we’ll not disappoint you and will never forget you. I thank you people so much for supporting my husband. I thank you people for promising that if he comes out by 2015 that you will stand by him,” she told the local traditional chiefs.

“Those who want to drag us to the North because the position and money they are collecting should know that Rivers State people are not fish and nobody can sell us,” Prince Timothy Nsirim, who replied on behalf of the people, said in a not so veiled reference to rumours that Governor Amaechi will pair with a Northern Governor to contest the 2015 polls.

Kema Chikwe

Kema Chikwe, former PDP National Women Leader, who was present at the above stated event did not waste time in declaring the support of her constituency for the 2015 ambition of the President. “Tell him that PDP women in every nook and cranny, wherever we are, young or old, beautiful or ugly, tall or short, small or big, we are chatting to Nigerians.

“All we are saying, give us Goodluck,” Kema urged Pius Anyim, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation who represented President Jonathan at the occasion.

Oronto Douglas

Sources told this magazine that Dame Jonathan worked and relied on advice and strategies fashioned out by some close aides of President Jonathan, especially Oronto Douglas, the Special Adviser to the President on Strategy and Documentation.

Nyesom Wike

Working closely with Mrs. Jonathan, especially in the recent months is Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education, who shares the same home state with the First Lady. She publicly acknowledged that the Minister played a vital role in her recent visit to Rivers State. Wike is also interested in becoming the next Governor of Rivers, an ambition which is not enjoying the support of the incumbent. Hence, the Minister is banking on alliance with the Presidency fostered through the First Lady to achieve his ambition.

In return, the strong grassroots politician is offering the Presidency the use of his political structure in Rivers State to nip the alleged vice-presidential ambition of Amaechi in the bud. The collaboration between the First Lady and the Minister is already yielding the desired fruits, one of which is the hijacking of the structure of PDP in Rivers State from Amaechi.

Another gain of the collaboration is the suspension of the Rivers State Governor by the National Working Committee, NWC, of PDP some weeks ago. Assured that he now has the Rivers State chapter of PDP in his pocket, Wike said in Rivers State last week that he is now the leader of the party in the state.

Bamanga Tukur

Of course, without the support and active connivance of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, PDP National Chairman, the taker-over of PDP Rivers State chapter would have been an impossible task for Wike. The PDP National Chairman for instance, wasted no time in arranging for the swearing in of Obuah and other members of his executive a day after the controversial judgment of Abuja High Court which declared them the validly elected executive of Rivers PDP.

“It is a court matter and I have nothing to do with it. If people feel cheated, they should go to court and if the court decides, I have nothing to do with it. What they decide, we take over from there,” Tukur said when he was asked  if the hurried swearing in of court-imposed state executive of Rivers PDP is not a negation of efforts to reconcile aggrieved party members he has been championing since he came into office.

Tukur, who barely escaped being removed at the National Executive meeting of the party two weeks ago, has not spoken much about the 2015 presidential contest as related to President Jonathan though. But the various actions and activities of the octogenarian since he became the Chairman of the self-acclaimed biggest party last year indicate that he will throw his weight behind the incumbent President when push comes to shove.

This is expected when it is realised that the governor of defunct Gongola State became the chairman of the ruling party  against other candidates preferred by the governors of North-East, where the position was zoned to, with the support of the presidency. The President and his loyalists also believe Tukur’s continued stay in office will shut out other contenders, especially his northern kinsmen who have not kept quiet about their determination to ensure that a Northern candidate emerges as PDP presidential flag bearer based on the party’s zoning arrangement.

The PDP National Chairman has so far succeeded, using fair and foul means in getting members believed to be loyal to Amaechi and other PDP Governors whose support for the President’s 2015 ambition is doubtful out of the party’s National Working Committee. Top among party officials booted out are Dr. Sam Jaja, former Deputy National Chairman; and former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former the Secretary of the party.

Tukur was also instrumental to the establishment in February this year, of PDP Governors’ Forum, a body established to serve as counterpoise to Amaechi-led NGF as well as to whip governors elected on the platform of the ruling party into line.

Tukur announced the formation of the PDP Governors’ Forum, headed by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, during what many regarded as a routine meeting of stakeholders of PDP, held at the presidential villa on the eve of the meeting of NGF in Abuja. “The new Forum will not lead to a crack in the larger forum. We will work together to promote our interests,” Akpabio, a rabid supporter of President Jonathan, had told journalists in response to questions from journalists on whether the new forum was designed to rally PDP Governors against Amaechi in the NGF election slated for the next day.

Governor Godswill Akpabio

The Akwa Ibom State Governor himself has never hidden the fact that he is one of the foot soldiers of President Jonathan’s 2015 project. Since his emergence as the Chairman of PDP-GF, Akpabio has been saddled with various tasks designed to strengthen the party towards the 2015 elections. He is leading efforts to settle the seemingly intractable crisis rocking the South-West chapter of the party for instance. A source told this magazine that PDP chieftains in the South-West expect Akpabio, whose state has been occupying the number one spot in terms of revenue allocation from the federation account, to be one the major financiers of efforts to pry states in the region away from the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, starting with the Ekiti and Osun State gubernatorial elections, slated for next year.

However, Akpabio’s bloated ego was crudely savaged with his failure to deliver on his first major assignment of getting Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State elected as the Chairman of NGF, as desired by the Presidency. Rather, Amaechi, with the support of some PDP Governors and state chief executives elected on the platform of opposition parties, won the election, conducted at Rivers State Governor’s Lodge last month, defeating Jang with three votes.

Not ready to accept failure however, Akpabio led the 16 other governors away to inaugurate Jang as alternate Chairman of NGF, based on claims that the Plateau State Governor has been endorsed by 20 state chief executives before the election. Some sources who claimed that Akpabio now virtually controls the PDP NWC, told this magazine that he was behind the suspension of Amaechi from the party few days after the NGF election.

Chief Edwin Clark

Chief Edwin Clark, octogenarian leader of the Ijaw nation, played little role, if any at all, in the journey of President Jonathan from Yenagoa to Abuja. But starting from the 2011 general elections, the former Minister of Information has taken over the task of selling or, more appropriately, forcing his kinsman down the throat of Nigerians.

Just as he did in 2011, Clark has been up and doing, travelling and holding meetings and rallying different groups to support the President’s 2015 ambition. Clark has, at various times, frontally condemned the Amaechi led-NGF, especially for holding different views with Jonathan on some national issues. He has been especially vociferous in defending the rights of the President to run for a second term, contrary to assertions by some Northern leaders.

“We of the South-South believe that it is in the interest of Nigeria, in the unity of our country, that Jonathan should contest. No one should strike him out. Movement of power or power rotation is not proper at this time. In the Constitution of Nigeria every president has contested for two elections. Shagari did it in 1979 and in 1983 he did it again, then in 1999 Obasanjo did it, and in 2003 he contested again,” Clark told journalists at the 3rd General Conference of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, SNPA, held recently in Lagos.

To make the path to another four years in the Presidency smoother for Jonathan, Clark has been campaigning that PDP should introduce a new policy that will ensure that the President runs unopposed for his party ticket. If this suggestion is accepted, no other aspirant will be allowed to contest for the presidential ticket of the ruling party in 2015. “There is no incumbent who has not done a second term. So it’s not yet the turn of a northerner; they have the right to contest as Nigerians but in other parties, not PDP. In 1979 Shehu Shagari contested with other people for the ticket, but in 1983, he was unopposed in the primary, even though there were men of timbre and calibre in the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, who would have contested with him at that time. But the party gave it to him unopposed. We don’t believe in double standard,” Clark expatiated on the idea at the SNPA meeting.

Though both have been torn apart by the politics of Delta State, Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of Niger Delta and Clark share the passion for the Jonathan 2015 project.

Chief Tony Anenih

Another octogenarian, Chief Tony Anenih, popularly known as Mr. Fix-It for his skilfulness at achieving political results by fair or foul means, put it more pointedly when he asked the ruling party to work out a way of giving automatic ticket to President Jonathan at a dinner held two months ago. Anenih was foisted as the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, BOT, by President Jonathan as part of his maneuvres to take full control of the ruling party in February. Sources said the President considers the 80-year-old a weighty enough counterpoise to the influence and remaining vestiges  of former President Obasanjo within PDP.

The President had earlier appointed the former Minister of Works chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority. Anenih and some members of his BoT have since their appointments been holding meetings with leaders of the party across Nigeria in what they described as part of moves to end crises within PDP. Some sources however said the former Minister and others are using the trips to feel the pulse of party members to the President’s second term ambition.

Though it was not certain if his findings during the trips informed the recommendation, Anenih, at a dinner held in May, asked PDP members to consider an automatic second term ticket for incumbent president and governors, a measure that will put an end to the usual primaries. This, according to him, will help avoid the hassles that go with the party primaries, especially for executive positions. “After the tour of the board of trustees, we will collate the opinions and make appropriate recommendations to the President as leader of the party. But what I would like to say is that thePresident and governors who are seeking their second term should be given automatic tickets to contest the second term,” Anenih said.

Kingsley Kuku

Kingsley Kuku, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Amnesty Implementation Committee, literally stirred a storm when, at a parley in Washington with US State Department, led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Donald Teitelbaumin, he predicted a resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta region if President Goodluck Jonathan was not re-elected in 2015. Kuku noted that the relative peace being enjoyed in the oil-producing region was because of Jonathan. The assertions in the US generated controversy and attracted a rash of condemnations back home with many, especially Northerners, calling on the President to rein in his aide.

The presidential adviser has remained unrepentant, vowing that the people of Niger Delta will continue the Jonathan 2015 campaign. Kuku told journalists at an event in Abuja to mark the fourth anniversary of the proclamation of amnesty and three years of the implementation of the programme, that it was the right of the Niger Delta people to campaign for Jonathan even though he was yet to declare his interest in the next election: “It is our right to continue to urge the President to consider running for a second term in office although he has not told us to do so and has not declared his interest to run.”

Dokubo Asari

The widespread condemnation of Kuku’s United States’ speech only succeeded in rousing Dokubo Asari, the leader of Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force into action on the Jonathan 2015 project. “We have to demand what belongs to us; 2015 is not about Jonathan but about our destiny, if you allow them they will crush you when they come. I am ready for them bullet for bullet,” Dokubo, who threatened that Niger Delta militants will totally cripple oil production in the Niger Delta if Jonathan is not re-elected in 2015, said.

It is believed that Dokubo, just like the other former militants who have spoken in the same vein, are speaking at the instigation of Kuku. It is also believed that the presidential adviser was behind the recent protest against in Port Harcourt by a group of militants over the alleged presidential ambition of the Rivers State Governor. On the low level of participation in the Jonathan 2015 project for now are Dieziani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum Resources; Princess Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation and Henry Seriake-Dickson, Bayelsa State governor. Sources however told this magazine that the two ministers and the governor of the President’s home state will be crucial in provding financial backing and strategic direction as the 2015 campaign gathers momentum.

—Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja