•How Obasanjo fell victim as president
Written by Isaac Shobayo & Idowu Samuel Sunday, 13 June 2010
AS part of the moves by the North to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from contesting the 2011 presidential election, there are strong indications that some powerful forces in the North have descended heavily on some of the northern governors drumming support for the president to run.
Sunday Tribune learnt that some powerful blocks scheming to stop the president were surprised by the recent outburst of some of their governors encouraging the president to contest and considered their actions as counter-productive and not in tandem with the northern aspiration.
Sunday Tribune learnt that prominent politicians of northern extraction, majority of whom were members of various political pressure groups in the North met in Kaduna last week and discussed extensively on the roles of some of the governors, especially those who changed gear after the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua and suddenly became the proponent of ‘Jonathan can contest’.
It was viewed at the meeting that the quest for power to return to the North could be frustrated and jeopardised if those governors who were supposed to champion it and work towards the actualisation were the ones castigating the zoning arrangement to pave the way for the emergence of the president as the likely presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to findings, Arewa Consultative Forum, Arewa Elders Forum and the rival group, Northern Union, might likely close rank towards the actualisation of the North producing the next president while the ACF was alleged to have set up a committee of eminent northern leaders to meet with the recalcitrant governors not willing to play along in the scheme for a president of Northern extraction.
It was further gathered that politicians of northern extraction scheming to stop the president or anybody from the South from contesting were also contemplating the possibility of working against the second term aspiration of the governors who refused to toe the line of the North concerning 2011.
Sunday Tribune learnt that this could be achieved by working with the opposition, especially within the PDP in their respective states to frustrate their second term bid.
A source close to the affected governors, two of whom are in the North-Central and one from the North-East, disclosed that they had, at their individual levels, resolved not to succumb to pressure or intimidation regarding their stance on President Jonathan.
One of the aides to one of the governors in the North-Central who spoke with Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity stated that the support of his governor for President Goodluck Jonathan was based on principle and the quest to strengthen democracy.
He disclosed that they were aware of the moves to align with the opposition especially within the PDP to frustrate the second term bid of his governor by sponsoring somebody within to run against the governor using prevailing situation as a yardstick for such action.
It will be recalled that Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State recently called on President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2011 election, saying the nation had outgrown the zoning arrangement in place in the country.
He frowned at the idea of zoning, saying that it was high time the nation did away with zoning in order to promote good governance. He added that for Nigeria to move forward it needed good leader with passion for governance and development.
Governor Jang, however, added that the people of Plateau State would support the presidential bid of Dr. Jonathan if he decided to contest the 2011 election on the platform of the PDP.
Other governors in the North had equally made similar comments which did not go down well with those leaders in the North who wanted power to return to the North in 2011 based on the controversial zoning arrangement of the PDP.
Meanwhile, Some concerned leaders in the northern part of Nigeria are not leaving things to chances on how to reclaim the Presidency from Dr Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.
Indication that the north was keen on reclaiming the Presidency in 2011 emerged on the strength of reports that some northerners had commissioned some marabouts and Islamic clerics, with sponsorship to Saudi Arabia, to offer prayers in support of the northern aspiration to produce the next president of Nigeria.
According to findings, supporters of President Jonathan were already aware of recourse to spirituality by some northern leaders on the issue of 2011 presidency, and had rather left everything in the hands of God, who, a top motivator said, only has power to give and take power.
Those engaging spiritualists against Jonathan, according to findings, were not particular on any presidential hopeful from the north to take over from Jonathan. They were said to have been alarmed by the prospect of northern relegation in national politics for a long period with the possibility of enthroning Jonathan as the next elected President of Nigeria.
In essence, the north would be contented in the event of emergence of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar or other presidential hopeful from the zone as president in 2011.
Besides the spiritual angle to fighting for 2011 presidency, the northern media, most especially the radio, were also being used as means of mainstreaming the propaganda for northern presidency as reflected by most of the programmes aired by notable north based radio stations of late.
Sunday Tribune learnt that security reports had been filed based on open sentiments being canvassed by some of the radio stations, mostly in Kaduna and Kano, through interview sessions, debates on politics and other current affairs programmes.
The north had launched similar propaganda, using the radio in fighting the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, most especially during the plot to elongate his tenure through constitutional amendment with key National Assembly members being proponents.
Early in the regime of Obasanjo as president, Sunday Tribune had reported that some spiritualists were camped at a mosque in Abuja to invoke specific verses in certain prayer books to pray for the then President who was at the height of his popularity, whereas the sessions were meant to curse Obasanjo on the basis that he was all out to cripple the political and economic fortune of the north.
From indications, years after the negative prayers were said against Obasanjo who initially won the hearts of Nigerians by his laudable programmes and policy initiatives including creation of EFCC, ICPC, suppression of coup instincts in the military, improvement on Nigeria's external image, fat pay for civil servants, forging of national unity, introduction of GSM telephony into Nigeria, revival of Abuja City through construction of network of roads and many more, the former president took to outlandish ideas which eventually made him unpopular.
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