The Presidency has said it will not respond to comments made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that stated President Goodluck Jonathan vowed severally not to seek re-election.
The disclosure on the silence is the best answer policy comes from an anonymous source within the Presidency, according to the Nation.
The source said: “We have agreed not to dignify Obasanjo with a response because he is not saying anything new. What should be the concern of all is the position of the 1999 Constitution on second term in office, which the President is entitled to.
“Hearsay is not the same as the clear provision of the law of the land. The London comments have left many gaps: where did the President make the so-called pledge? Under what circumstance? Hasn’t the President clarified that he did not say in Ethiopia that he would spend only a term in office? Let Obasanjo provide more details.
“A governor once spoke of a one-term agreement entered into by the President with PDP governors. But up till today, the same governor cannot produce a copy of the said agreement.
“They keep on revisiting this one-term thing to scare the President out of the race. That is a miscalculation on their part.”
Obasanjo was reported by Bloomberg as having said, “President Jonathan said, not only once, twice, publicly, not only inside Nigeria, outside Nigeria, that he would have one term, and said that to me.
“One of the things that is very important in the life of any man or any person is that he will be a man or a person of his word.
“If you decide your word should not be taken seriously, that’s entirely up to you.”
Also, a Strategist to the President said: “There is no way Obasanjo can intimidate the President out of the second term race. It is only the electorate that can determine the fate of Jonathan in 2015.
“We are not losing sleep over Obasanjo’s comments because the former President has boxed himself into a corner politically. The interview in London appears to be a sign of a likely gang-up against the President. But we are up to the task.
“The Presidency has always suspected that the ex-President might have backed some of these governors that defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) only for him to remain in PDP.
“We cannot actually place what Obasanjo wants. President Jonathan has, however, said he would not take any action against Obasanjo in terms of arrest or prosecution. As for politics, we will all meet on the field.”
Leave a Reply