Why Some PDP Governors Worked Against Jonathan In 2015-Babangida Aliyu

Ex-Governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has revealed why some governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disagreed with the second term bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to him, Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP governors and board met and made an agreement after the demise of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that he was running on just one term as the president and he would hand over the baton. But things did not go as planned as Jonathan went for the second run and was defeated.

In his words: “Following the sudden passage of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 5th, 2010, the leadership of the then governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) along with the state governors under the flagship of the party had series of meetings on the presidency and the future of our great party.

“All the governors in the North under the PDP supported the then Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to complete the remaining years of Yar’Adua’s tenure and to contest the next presidential election as a sole candidate of our great party.

“However, midway, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted to run for the office in 2015 against the grain of our earlier agreement. On that premise, we opposed Jonathan. But all along, Goodluck Jonathan had enjoyed every support from the governors in the north and the entire region.

“As chairman of the 19 Northern States Governors Forum, the task was on my shoulders to voice out the position of the North which stood disadvantaged by the demise of Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua and the insistence that Jonathan should run for the office of president in 2015.

“We acted in good spirit and argued our points based on principle and on the subsisting agreement we had with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. That agreement was written and accepted by all. It is, therefore, wrong for anyone to erroneously say that I, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu had opposed Goodluck Jonathan,”