Declare for Second Term, Group tells Jonathan
A group, South East South South Initiative (SESSI) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare for a second term in office, stressing that it is not in the interest of Nigeria for him not to heed the call.
In an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt, Vice President of SESSI, Dr. Love O. Arugu said Jonathans achievements qualify him for a second term in office.
We are calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare for a second term in office, he should no longer ignore the calls by Nigerians to re-contest in 2015. We want him to get a second term and complete the good works he has started. As a political scientist, I have compared his achievements within the two years he has been in office with his predecessors; he deserves to be given another chance. Nigerians are ready to give Jonathan a second chance because he is a peace loving man who considers the interest of Nigeria paramount despite the provocation by disgruntled elements. He is the kind of person that Nigeria wants at this time. Jonathans return for second term would be in the best interest of Nigeria.
She continued: President Jonathan has been trying his best. If you compare the era before him, there was this electricity problem but you can see that we now have an improved power supply. Though it is not yet perfect, things are no longer the way they were. I give him 75%, he has improved a lot of things. Within the two years, he has been in office. You can remember that during festive seasons in this country, we usually dont find fuel to buy in the open market when what we call the black market people rip us off. But since Jonathan came, there has been regular supply of fuel. Look at his midterm report, Transformation Agenda and how it is being implemented, Jonathan deserves to be commended. New universities have been established in the education sector; a lot of people have been employed; academic and non academic staff. Im not saying that Nigeria is an Eldorado but Jonathan has been able to improve a lot of things. If you consider that he has been moving ahead despite the distractions to pull him down, then you will appreciate the fact that he has the interest of Nigeria at heart. He is focused on making Nigeria better and if he is given another opportunity, the country would be better for it, Arugu said.
The SESSI Vice President took a swipe on ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo over his recent letter to Jonathan and the allegation that the president signed an agreement to serve only one term in office.
Arugu also accused Obasanjo of trying to teleguide Jonathan and not forgiving Nigerians for denying him an unconstitutional third term in office.
Obasanjo is not happy that Nigerians stood against his unconstitutional third term in office. He wanted to teleguide Jonathan and get the denied third term by another means; but has been rebuffed. This is why he is bitter with Jonathan and writing letters. It has been discovered that his plan was to make Jonathan a president to be seen and not heard who will always be running up to Obasanjo for even little things like what type of food to eat by noon or dinner. It tells you the attitude of the former president in not being allowed to his way to make Jonathan a lame duck president. This is why I said that Obasanjo does not have the interest of Nigeria at heart, forget all these claims; he has been a very selfish man in all does. How can he say Jonathan signed an agreement to do only one term? The issue of Jonathans second term if he declares for it remains a decision to be taken by Nigerians, not Obasnjo and his cabal alone because they are not God and lacks the capacity to take decision for Nigerians. If Nigerians are not challenged by this Obasanjos arrogance that Jonathan signed an agreement to serve four years and return power to the former president to give whomever he likes in 2015, they should be challenged because this is a grave insult on their sensibilities. There are many people who assisted Obasanjo to become president in 1999, how many of them did he allow to control him as president? The things he is doing to Jonathan are not new; he has done it to almost every other sitting president. He is Mr. Know all. He did it to Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida and other. So, only the people who dont know Obasanjo will be surprised at his recent attacks on President Jonathan, it has been his life.”