2015 still far from my mind — Jonathan

MAY 6, 2012 BY OLALEKAN ADETAYO 

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
| credits: File copy

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said nothing could be farther from his mind at this point in time than the 2015 presidential elections.

He said media reports on his alleged plans to seek re-election in 2015 were meant by his administration’s detractors to heat up the polity unnecessarily.

Jonathan made his position known in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

There have been reports that the President might seek re-election in 2015 contrary to a statement he made ahead of the 2011 general elections that he would only serve for one term.

He had also recently, in his reaction to a court suit instituted by a member of the Peoples Democratic Party on his eligibility to contest the 2015 presidential election, said he was still on his first term.

Jonathan, in his latest reaction, decried the fact that the furore on his re-election which started as an irritating distraction some months ago, appeared to have now assumed a life of its own, dominating political discourse in the country, with all “kinds of mischief-makers and opportunists latching on to it to heat up the polity unnecessarily.”

He said the pointless, diversionary and very distractive hue and cry about his alleged ambition to seek a second term in office was becoming increasingly disturbing to him by the day.

The statement read in part, “For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, President Jonathan wishes to reiterate that his primary concern and the focus of all his efforts now, just about a year into the four-year tenure for which he was elected in April 2011, is to deliver on his promise of positive national transformation.

“The President’s sole preoccupation as the nation moves towards the first anniversary of his administration on May 29, 2012 is to continue to give effective and purposeful leadership that will steer Nigeria towards overcoming its immediate security and developmental challenges.

“Nothing could be farther from the president’s mind at this point in time than the 2015 elections. He has definitely not directed or authorised any individual or group to launch any campaign on his behalf.

“As he has repeatedly warned on many occasions, including the last national convention of the PDP, the inordinate ambition of a few self-centred Nigerians and their obsession with the politics of political succession in 2015 must not be allowed to distract the nation and its current leadership from the task of dealing with the much more urgent issues of development and the safety of Nigerians in all parts of the country.”

Jonathan urged the political class and the Nigerian mass media, once again, to focus on the immediate priority of protecting, preserving and consolidating democratic governance in Nigeria, and giving the nation’s current crop of elected leaders at all levels the opportunity to deliver on their promises to the people without the distraction of an unending campaign for future elections.

SOURCE: The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper 6 May 2012.