Mixed reactions have continued to trail Thursday’s endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term? by? some south-east political leaders with the Congress for Progressive Change[CPC] and its All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) counterpart? dismissing it as baseless.
While the president was on a one-day working visit to Anambra State on Thursday, some political leaders from the south-east zone had, in a town hall meeting, urged the president to begin preparation for another four-year tenure even as they assured him of? total support.
The zone spoke through businessman Arthur Eze who has a penchant of goading heads of government to remain in office.
‘’Obasanjo took eight years; we are calling on you to take another four years as one term is too short for you to finish the job you have at hand. You can consider giving power to the north after your eight years, so that that they will return it to the south-east after their own? eight years,’’ Eze said.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND in a telephone interview, the publicity secretary of the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin,? described? the endorsement as crass materialism on the part of Eze. He said it was all about business ambition as it is capable of fetching him more millions as well as protection of his business.
‘’Arthur Eze is a businessman and there is no businessman in Nigeria whose success in business is not tied to government patronage and protection. The endorsement is to feather his own nest. It is a way of being in the good books of the president,’’ he said.
Fashakin also averred that Eze might also have been a forerunner to Jonathan’s ambition since he is a powerful force to reckon with in the south-east PDP.
Similarly, the national publicity secretary of the ANPP, Emma Eneukwu in his reaction described Eze as a businessman who wants protection of his businesses from the president.
He however said that the president was wise enough and cannot be swayed by the antics of Eze.
‘’Well, Arthur Eze is a businessman .He will say something that will make the president protect his business. But the president knows better as I believe that he will not take another shot at the presidency after this tenure. It will amount to mere blindness if he does as he will be terribly disappointed,’’ he stated.
The publicity secretary hinged? his reasons on Jonathan’s statement that he is the most criticised president in the world which, according to Eneukwu is borne out of ‘‘his non- performance which would make it difficult for him to stage a come back.’’
‘’He has admitted that he is the most criticised president in the world and that is because he has performed abysmally and can’t be tolerated by Nigerians once his tenure expires. Let him just conclude the one God has given to him and go and rest,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, northern elders have expressed divergent opinions on the matter. While some who spoke to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND agreed that the group has a constitutional right to endorse whoever they want for an elective position, some were of the opinion that the president has no constitutional right to contest the position of the presidency again. They believe that he has been sworn in twice as the president of the country.
The chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Kaduna state, Barr. Muhammed Musa Soba, noted that the group has the right to endorse even as he said that Jonathan has no constitutional right to contest the 2015 presidential elections.
For his part, the former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said he has no problem with his endorsement by the group as it is their right to do so.