20 PDP GOVS ENDORSE JONATHAN – ABBA AJI

President Godluck Jonathan
No fewer than 20 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors have backed the yet-to-be-declared presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan. Special Adviser to President Jonathan on National Assembly Matters, Senator Abba Aji, who gave this indication in Abuja yesterday, said majority of PDP governors had pledged loyalty to President Jonathan for the 2011 presidential election. He restated that President Jonathan would declare his interest for the race after Ramadan, the Muslim fasting season.

Aji also said more of the governors were waiting for the President to declare to run before pledging their loyalty.

'President Godluck Jonathan will certainly run and he's going to declare after Ramadan. The President is fasting along with us and this is not something that he has just started. Actually, he started it since he moved to Abuja as Vice President and this is something he has continued in solidarity with his Muslim brothers. So, because of this, he is holding on and as soon as Ramadan is over, he (Jonathan) will declare for the presidency.

'A convenient date will be announced after Ramadan and you will be duly notified. There is no doubt that he is running with Vice President Namadi Sambo.

'Don't believe the report that he is considering dropping his deputy, don't believe them.

'The President will run, it is the desire of all politicians to aspire to the highest level and he is now the closest person to that seat because he's already sitting on it, so he is the closest person to the presidency in 2011, nobody is closer to it than Jonathan because he's already on the 2011 seat. He is going to run and no doubt about this.'

Aji, who is the Chairman, Friends of Democracy for Goodluck Jonathan told journalists that it was not true that the President had been reluctant to make official pronouncement on his speculated presidential ambition , because he was not sure of the support of the PDP governors.

'No, we are not threatened at all, the governors are very important leaders of our party in the various states, and they are very major stakeholders both in our party and as governors of our country, and they know that this is the turn for Jonathan.

'So, we have no fears at all because our governors will in due course, support our cause. Many of them have expressed their support. On the last count, we have the majority, over two-thirds of the governors are already with us and not that the rest are not with us, they are getting ready to declare.'