3 GOVS BACK JONATHAN FOR 2011 PRESIDENCY
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, his Kogi and Benue States counterparts, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris and Mr. Gabriel Suswam respectively, have declared their support for President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 presidential election.
The three governors made their stance to support President Jonathan's ambition to contest the 2011 presidential elections known at the meeting of Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan, which took place in Abuja on Tuesday evening.
This was just as the group made up of presidential aides rose from their extra-ordinary meeting, declaring that their activities were in line with President Jonathan's commitment towards ensuring that every vote counts in the 2011 general elections.
The Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan, which is chaired by the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, equally resolved to set up national and zonal steering committees in the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Daily Sun gathered that the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Business and Rules, Mr. Ita Enang, presented Governor Godswill Akpabio's position while Senator Mohammed Ohiare, who contested for the governorship election in Kogi State in 2007 on the platform of the Action Congress, made the position of Governor Ibrahim Idris known. A delegation from Benue State, led by Hon. Aodona presented Gov. Gabriel Suswam's endorsement of Jonathan to the group.
It was further gathered that both Enang and Senator Ohaire, who is the Chairman of Contact and Mobilization Committee of the group, had earlier delivered the goodwill messages of their governors to a select committee group that met in Senator Ibrahim Mantu's house on Monday. In the same vein, the Director-General of Friends of Democracy, who is also the Special Assistant to the President (Senate), Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, told the meeting of the group that the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, sent a goodwill message and support for the Jonathan support group.
Earlier in his address of welcome, Chairman of the group, Senator Mohammed Abba-Aji, who is also the Chairman of the Planning and Strategy Committee of the group, and Senator Ibrahim Mantu said the group was determined not only to actualize the requirement for the realisation of its set objectives but to ensure that the over 800 different groups in support of Jonathan's 2011 Presidency were harmonized for a common result.
Senator Mantu, who was a former Deputy President of the Senate, said all the groups might eventually fuse into Friends of Democracy to avoid working at cross purposes. Some prominent personalities that attended the meeting included Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Shuabu Oyedokun, Senator Sylvanus Ngele, Mr. Solomon Ewuga, third Republic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Agunwa Anaekwe, Senator Clement Awoyelu and former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Imasuen.