BY HENRY UMORU
ABUJA—AHEAD of 2015 Presidential election, former
Federal Commissioner for Information and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark,
yesterday, reiterated that nobody in Nigeria can stop President
Goodluck Jonathan from contesting.
The
elder statesman who noted that Nigeria belongs to all and no tribe can
boast of its superiority over others, stressed that it was not
speculation that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will adopt
President Jonathan as its sole candidate.
Speaking when he
received a delegation of second Republic House of Representatives
members who paid him a visit at his Asokoro residence in Abuja, Chief
Clark maintained that Nigerian citizens were equal and can aspire to the
highest office in this country, adding that the person should remain in
office in line with the Constitution of the country.
According to
him, in civilised democracies where the minority and majority ethnic
groups exist, it has never been the prerogative of the majority ethnic
group to lord it over the minorities.
He said: “For instance, in
Great Britain from whom we got our independence, there are the English,
the Welsh and the Scottish. The English are the majority, followed by
the Scottish and then the Welsh. Each of these ethnic groups has
produced the Prime Minister of Great Britain based on the quality of the
candidate. In fact, in recent times the Scottish has come to produce
more Prime Ministers than the English who are the majority.”
Chief
Clark who noted that it was the constitutional right of President
Jonathan to contest for re-election in 2015, said, “The Constitution
provided for two terms. In 1979, Shehu Shagari from the North was
president until 1983 when he got his second term but Buhari for reasons
best known to them, they thought that at the end of his second ruling he
will hand over to Ekwueme or to Akinloye. They then staged a coup and
drove him (Shagari) away and imprisoned all the politicians. Who took
over? Another Northerner.
“ The 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria provides for two tenures of four years each after
two democratically conducted elections. Apart from the illegality of the
purported agreement with the northern state governors, such a mindset
violates the letter and spirit of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria as amended. There is no speculation that the PDP is
planning to impose President Jonathan as the sole candidate of the party
in the upcoming convention.
“The practice in democratic
presidential system of government is that an incumbent president remains
the sole candidate of a political party at the party’s convention, if
he or she is willing to contest for a second term in office. This is the
practice in the United States of America from where Nigeria copied her
own model of the presidential system of government.
“When the
American type of presidential system was adopted in Nigeria in
1978/1979, former President Shehu Shagari was the sole candidate of the
National Party of Nigeria, NPN, when he chose to run for a second tenure
in the 1983 Presidential election. Or do you think there was dearth of
qualified candidates in that era? Note that in the words of Dr. K. O.
Mbadiwe, ‘the NPN had many men of timber and calibre who were ready to
contest the presidential primaries if Alhaji Shehu Shagari had not
indicated his intention to contest.’
“The list is endless. In
2003, it was only through the instigation of some governors led by Chief
James Onanefe Ibori who were disappointed that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
stepped down for his boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo that Dr. Alex Ekwueme
was persuaded to contest the presidential primaries against the party’s
decision. However, he was defeated by President Obasanjo who had the
party’s blessings.
“To lend credence to the fact that a sitting
president is entitled to a second term, the ambitious and unpatriotic
governors and some Northern conservative politicians confirmed this
constitutional provision by saying that it was the second term of the
late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that the North wanted to complete in
2011. In other words, late President Yar’Adua was entitled to eight
years in office but Dr. Jonathan is entitled to only a single term
contrary to the 1999 Constitution. Is that not double standard? What a
shame!
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to support President
Jonathan and his transformation agenda which he said was for the
interest of the country.
Leader of the delegation, Umar Lawan said
they came to celebrate with Clark on his 86 birthday and express the
willingness of his members to support Jonathan’s re-election in 2015
giving his outstanding achievements in office.
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