Confusion over Jonathan’s candidacy

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

Top Presidency officials yesterday gave conflicting signals over President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy for next year’s election, with his spokesman saying the president had not said he would run nor did he say he won’t.

Confusion reigned in the afternoon at the State House in Abuja after Reuters news agency posted a story shortly before 2pm saying that Jonathan may not stand for election in January because of the PDP’s decision to retain the zoning policy.

However, hours after Reuters posted the story, presidential spokesman Ima Niboro issued a statement saying that the president had not committed either way on the presidential race.

Reuters quoted a presidency source as saying, “He (Jonathan) is not likely going to run, simply because his party has retained the zoning of the presidency to the north for the next four years.

“Though his party said he can run despite the zoning, the party said this because they didn’t want to offend him.”

According to Reuters, the source said Jonathan would make his intentions public before the end of August.

“(He) is a man that always ensures equity and fair play, so he may allow the North to have their remaining four-year term if that will ensure peace and unity,” the source said.

The agency said sources close to the president have been saying for weeks that he is concerned about the implications of ending zoning and about his own credibility as a candidate in polls he says he wants to make free and fair.

But Niboro, in a statement later in the evening, said: “Our attention has been drawn to a report published by Reuters today, quoting ‘Presidency’ sources as stating that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan may have decided not to run in the 2011 presidential elections after all.

“Information at our disposal indicates that this is a story sponsored by interested parties. Unfortunately, the highly rated global news agency was misled into publishing it.

“The truth is that the president has not said he will not run. Neither has he said he will. At different times he has given clear reasons why he considers it premature, in the interest of governance, to make any commitment both ways.

“At the appropriate time, the president will inform his country men and women of his future plans. Until then, every comment on the subject remains mere speculation.”

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in an ambiguous resolution last week said Jonathan has the right to run, because he was previously vice president on a joint ticket with late President Umaru Yar’adua, who died mid-way through his first term earlier this year.

But the party also said that it would uphold the principle of power rotation and that other candidates were free to contest at its primaries, expected to be held in by October.

Yesterday’s report and the subsequent statement by the presidency have added to the confusion over Jonathan’s speculated interest in standing for election due in January.

Two northern candidates—former military president Ibrahim Babangida and former vice president Atiku Abubakar—have already declared they would run against Jonathan to seek the PDP nomination for 2011