President Goodluck Jonathan has denied allegations as well as insinuations that he stated in Ethiopia that he will not contest in the presidential elections in 2015.
Jonathan also insisted he did not sign any agreement with any group of person when he stated blatantly: “I did not sign agreement with anybody; if I had signed an agreement, they would have shown you.
The president had a media chat, which is his fifth since 2011, with some selected journalist who asked questions on various contemporary issues in the country’s polity.
The issues discussed included: his undeclared 2015 ambition; the alleged bankruptcy state of the economy; lingering university lecturers’ strike; and the sack of some minister; the Boko Haram activities and its leader Abubakar Shekau’s controversial death; oil theft; corruption, among others.
On the allegations that he personally said he won’t partake in 2015 elections, the president explained: “What I said in Ethiopia was that should Nigerians agree to a single term of seven years, I would not be part of it so that they would not say I canvassed it in order to spend 12 years in office.
“A lot of people are misinforming Nigerians. I was in Addis Ababa when I advocated for this single tenure. I said if we look at the politics of Nigeria, especially now that the country is just developing…in terms of the political evolution, we started the First Republic, it collapsed, the Second Republic collapsed, the Third Republic collapsed. This is the very first time that we have stayed.
“So, I said if we look at the way we go about our politics, to be productive, definitely if a president a tenure of seven years of one term without any interference, he must be productive more than even in the so-called eight years.
“I advocated for that, people would say the president, having completed the late President Yar’Adua’s tenure and another four years that make it five years, want to serve for another seven year single tenure, that would make it 12 years.”
“If Nigerians agree to that single tenure, I believe it will be more productive for the country because I am thinking more about the country.
“I did not say oh, Jonathan is or not going to contest election. I discovered that the concept of the single tenure which I was advocating at that time, it was when I was interfacing with some Nigerians in Addis Ababa, that some said I signed an agreement. They should show you the agreement.”
Nevertheless, Jonathan insisted it is still too early to declare despite the fact that the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih’s advice that he should go against all odds and declare his intention.
Jonathan said his early declaration will “create more problems for the system than solving it” as he pointed out that no one among his oppositions have come out to declare their intentions.
Have you heard any of them coming out to say I want to be president or governor?”, the president queried.
“We have laws in this country and our electoral laws regulate political activities. It gives the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) time frame to declare campaign open.
Jonathan also denied signing an agreement with PDP governors to use only one term in office, hence he dared them to present the documentation pertinent to such agreement
Jonathan also spoke on various topics in the two-hour live programme in which he fielded questions from five journalists in the studio. He also took questions sent by some Nigerians.
On the alleged bankruptcy sate of the economy, Jonathan rebuked the allegations as the handiwork of his critics “playing politics with serious issues”.
“Anybody who talked about Nigeria being broke is just playing politics with the issue, we should be mindful of what statement we make” the president insisted.
Jonathan said: “How can someone say Nigeria is bankrupt and what are the yardsticks used when Nigeria currently has the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa?”, he queried
“If Nigeria is bankrupt, investors will remove their money overnight.
“We should be mindful of what we say as citizens. Despite all political interests, we must take our country first when making statements.”
On the lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike Jonathan said the presidency has agreed on all issues, apart from transferring government’s assets to the university.
“Until we get to that level where universities that claim to be autonomous are autonomous in funding and other areas, we will still face similar challenges.
“The earned allowances which the lecturers are talking about are supposed to be paid from the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) of the universities. The Federal Government cannot close all other departments because we want to solve ASUU problem.”
“Is it Federal Government that will provide infrastructure for state universities when we say we are in a federation? ASUU strike is very unfortunate because the union knows we are committed to revamping the infrastructure”, Jonathan wondered the rationale for state universities involvement in the industrial action.
On intense Boko Haram activities, the president insisted that the poor people cannot afford the weapons used by the sect, hence, he did not see poverty as the cause of the insurgence.
He however said he is unaware “whether Shekau (their leader) is dead or alive. I do not know him and have never seen him before. You cannot have clear information on security operation.
“If he was talking regularly in the past and suddenly stopped, there should be speculations.”
The President also spoke on revenue, saying the monthly meetings to share allocation were not necessary.
Jonathan appealed to the lecturers to call off the 90-day old strike, adding that the government is committed to make the necessary changes but such cannot happen overnight.
“We set up a team, technical team, they visited all the universities, all the hostels including the toilets that we had in the hostels, they took photographs and videos records and when it was present to the executive council, I said it must be presented to the governors.
“So , I asked the Vice President that during the National Economic Council meeting with the governors, the Finance Minister is a member, the Planning Minister, Chief Economic Adviser to the President and the Central Bank Governor, the report should be presented.
“The report was on Federal Universities and states, we did not go to the private universities and we saw the enormous responsibilities that we have as a nation; the Vice-President could not recognise where he learnt his Architecture.
“I believe we can say there is misunderstanding; definitely, politics has come into so many things that we do, some we observe that the way we do certain things I have a feeling that something else is happening, they may be saying something different”, Jonathan said.
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