2015: Stop playing God - Jonathan’s aide tells OBJ •Says nobody, group can intimidate Jonathan

Written by Christian Okeke, Abuja Wednesday, 12 September 2012 

 

AHEAD of the 2015 general election, an aide of President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Ahmed Ali Gulak, has said that inasmuch as President Goodluck Jonathan has not yet decided on whether he will re-contest for presidency, no person or group of individuals can intimidate him to take a decision otherwise planned by him. Gulak admitted that President Jonathan has constitutional right to aspire for presidency in 2015 and that no individual or group of individual can intimidate him or can abridge that right from him.
The assertions came as Gulak, who is special adviser to President Jonathan on political matters, stated that at no time did Nigerians come together to arrogate to an individual the power to anoint somebody to become president of the country and cautioned former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, not to play God.
"Whether or not President Jonathan will take a shot at 2015 is not yet decided. The fate of President Jonathan in 2015 is in the hands of God and in the hands of Nigerians and no person, no individual or group of individuals can intimidate him to take a decision otherwise planned by him," Gulak told journalists in his office.
He described the merger talks among opposition parties ahead of 2015 as moves that could further deepen democracy but added that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was ready for any alliance.
On the face-off between the governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha and elected council chairmen in the state, as well as his (Gulak's) call for impeachment of the governor, the presidential aide declared that he had nothing personal against the governor but wondered why Okorocha should "run foul of the constitution and evade the institutions that produced him."
Alhaji Gulak insisted that, "those who want to bring our democracy down must not be allowed," noting that, "it is only Nigerians who cannot differentiate between politics and development are the ones who cannot hail President Jonathan in 2013."
On the current insecurity in the country, he stated that the Federal Government was amenable at any time to dialogue with any group, as, according to him, the president had directed dialogue with any group ready for dialogue.
On the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, Alhaji Gulak assured that the poll would be free and fair as security agencies would make sure that the election was free and fair.
He said, "I will like to say with all sense of responsibility that you journalists or some Nigerians should not make God out of Obasanjo. Obasanjo is not God. It is only God that gives somebody power, it is only God that can say Mr A will be president and he will be president. No human being can play God and what I am saying is that journalists and Nigerians should not make God out of Obasanjo and Obasanjo should not play God.
"The fate of every human who aspires to any position is in the hands of God. Calculations and permutations towards 2015, everybody has the constitutional right to aspire to the highest position in the land. That is fundamental right that cannot be taken away from any person
"Equally, no person, no individual can abridge Dr Jonathan's constitutional right to aspire for that office because the constitution gives him that right and no individual or group of individual can intimidate him or can abridge that right from him and Nigerians should be allowed to choose who they want to lead them.
"I cannot remember when Nigerians had come together to arrogate to an individual the power to anoint somebody to become president of this country, only God can anoint an individual to be president.”

SOURCE: Nigerian Tribune, 12 September 2012. http://www.tribune.com.ng/