Farewell Wendell Simlin: Has Jonathan Fired Reno Omokri?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y8bAGkF525LvNXSwO5B5u9jRrvM7dI2YD2j9GPJs5Uz90_saYptDOqlVVrrSWuHgACfnIT4bNYci9jPD_NQ6fogtNbsOVEp93o7NVVPgjQ_hUm1F_Y8w6L-rr5fNKNglXTXagSQ8_aNI/s1600/Reno-Omokri.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y8bAGkF525LvNXSwO5B5u9jRrvM7dI2YD2j9GPJs5Uz90_saYptDOqlVVrrSWuHgACfnIT4bNYci9jPD_NQ6fogtNbsOVEp93o7NVVPgjQ_hUm1F_Y8w6L-rr5fNKNglXTXagSQ8_aNI/s1600/Reno-Omokri.png" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>President Goodluck Jonathan has retooled his social media team, sidelining his increasingly controversial point man, Reno Omokri by appointing Obi Asika as the new Senior Special Assistant on Social Media. Mr. Jonathan's move is seen as an apparent maneuver to re-energize his social media image following a growing slide in his electoral fortunes as well as a series of scandals involving Mr. Omokri, who until now shaped and ran the incumbent president’s campaign on social media. </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A source at the Presidency told <b><a href="http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/17/jonathan-sidelines-omokri-appoints-asika-new-social-media-strategist#.VOOPHcFrOQA.twitter">SaharaReporters</a></b> that Mr. Omokri, who returned from California to boost President Jonathan’s political campaigns in 2011, had become a huge liability and source of distraction. Mr. Omokri, who also doubles as a pastor, came to be known as <i>Wendell Simlin</i> after tech-savvy Nigerian social media activists caught him red-handed as he circulated reports on the Internet that claimed to have found a link between former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and Islamist terror group Boko Haram. Enterprising social media sleuths discovered that the so-called reports implicating Mr. Sanusi as a sponsor of Boko Haram were first created on and disseminated from Mr. Omokri's personal computer in Abuja.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A few weeks ago, a California-based woman, Deborah Campbell, who was once married to a relative of Mr. Omokri’s, told <i>SaharaReporters</i> that the presidential aide had stolen her son's identity to engage in the circulation of fraudulent news that smeared Mr. Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano. Mr. Reno never denied the woman’s allegations.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Last week, Mr. Omokri was accused of leading policemen to burglarize a house in Warri, Delta State that belonged to his late mother. The occupants of the house, including Alex Oyoro, a well known PDP political figure in Delta State, alleged that Mr. Omokri had led a group of thugs and mobile police officers who broke into the property and stole ₦25 million in cash. The money, according to Mr. Oyoro, was meant for Mr. Jonathan’s re-election campaign. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Mr. Omokri denied being physically present at the scene of the burglary, claiming he was at his desk in Abuja and also doing some pastoral work at the time of the reported burglary.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A source at the Presidency told <i>SaharaReporters</i> that, in an attempt to present a more humane outlook as his electoral fortunes slip and his popularity plummets at home and abroad, Mr. Jonathan decided to push Mr. Omokri aside. Mr. Obi Asika, who has been elevated to serve as the new presidential strategist on social media, was described as one of the co-organizers of “Social Media Week” in Lagos. “Obi Asika is a serious personality who is also refined and self-controlled,” a source at the Presidency said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Apart from his dubious activities and cantankerous personality, Mr. Omokri has committed a series of blunders in recent months that cast Mr. Jonathan’s campaign in bad light. He organized two online polls that eventually showed that President Jonathan would lose the 2015 elections to the opposition APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, by a wide margin. Several sources at the Presidency said Mr. Omokri’s cup became full after he engineered a poll on Twitter where informal posts showed that Mr. Jonathan’s electoral prospects had become wretched. “That ill-advised Twitter poll backfired and caused embarrassment to Mr. President,” said a source close to the Jonathan campaign.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In a short email obtained by <i>SaharaReporters</i> earlier today, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati confirmed Mr. Asika's appointment to take charge of the president’s social media coverage. A source in the Presidency disclosed that Mr. Omokri was now in a subordinate position to Mr. Asika in the hierarchy of aides working on the president’s social media image. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "If Reno decides to remain here, he will have to be reporting to Obi Asika", a source at the Presidency revealed. </div>

Farewell Wendell Simlin: Has Jonathan Fired Reno Omokri?

President Goodluck Jonathan has retooled his social media team, sidelining his increasingly controversial point man, Reno Omokri by appointing Obi Asika as the new Senior Special Assistant on Social …

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OBJ Syndrome: Gombe SSA Tears PDP Membership Card

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxKlbuQIB5k7WuJCTdDKTtWEgSENC4YfHPxbxGq1I_eFXguoLPIeLFwvxwQUP5RJPsDTSNjXsc_Enapjn-D4kFx3PTfv5GmZ8gxt0JTnlrRkbQqtLj1rBVs0QcAD7YeQEYXwgW5czcpsp/s1600/PDP+card.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="548" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDxKlbuQIB5k7WuJCTdDKTtWEgSENC4YfHPxbxGq1I_eFXguoLPIeLFwvxwQUP5RJPsDTSNjXsc_Enapjn-D4kFx3PTfv5GmZ8gxt0JTnlrRkbQqtLj1rBVs0QcAD7YeQEYXwgW5czcpsp/s1600/PDP+card.JPG" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Hours after a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party and tore his membership card, another top member of the party has followed suit.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Abdullahi Muhammad, the senior special assistant on security to the governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, openly tore his membership card in the state capital, Gombe, on Tuesday morning, citing dissatisfaction with the manner the country was being run as his reason.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He specifically alleged that only a few of the large population of Nigeria were benefiting from the nation’s finances.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to <b><a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/177022-another-pdp-member-tears-partys-membership-card.html">PREMIUM TIMES</a></b>, he is believed to have joined the All Progressives Congress.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It is not known how long Mr. Muhammadu had been a member of the ruling party though he was one of its active members in the North East state. It could not also be established when he was appointed an aide to Mr. Dankwambo, who assumed office in 2011.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Efforts to reach the media aide to the governor, Junaidu Usman, to confirm the development failed.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Mr. Obasanjo, who was the country’s president between 1999 and 2007, had on Monday in Abeokuta, announced his resignation from the PDP and directed the party’s chairman in the ward to tear his membership card.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The former president, who had repeatedly criticised President Goodluck Jonathan over his style, was not only the leader of the party when he in office but became its Board of Trustees Chairman in 2007 when he left power.</div>

OBJ Syndrome: Gombe SSA Tears PDP Membership Card

Hours after a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party and tore his membership card, another top member of the party has followed suit. Abdullahi Muhammad, the …

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I'll Flee Nigeria If APC Wins - Bode George

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd16BprAmH_miU7irQa-eZJJQQtimS2tMOi63zvSSH5l_EAGvStARd7GxLeR8opnccrJlL2bN-0pcg02U9q5gSaXCI3ki1j0oVjXIVxi_m63B1MbyEyzJWE8UiMoc9-1PTKyZyjtu-cTf1/s1600/Bode-George.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd16BprAmH_miU7irQa-eZJJQQtimS2tMOi63zvSSH5l_EAGvStARd7GxLeR8opnccrJlL2bN-0pcg02U9q5gSaXCI3ki1j0oVjXIVxi_m63B1MbyEyzJWE8UiMoc9-1PTKyZyjtu-cTf1/s1600/Bode-George.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>In this interview with <a href="http://www.punchng.com/politics/ill-flee-nigeria-if-apc-wins-bode-george/">ENIOLA AKINKUOTU</a>, a national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, speaks on the recent comments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other national issues</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says President Goodluck Jonathan plans to perpetuate himself in government like the former President of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo. What do you think of this comment?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He (Obasanjo) says he is a Christian and as a Christian, it is emphasised in the New Testament of the Bible where Christ said judge not so that you will not be judged. But his judgment is no longer about the policies of Jonathan. He has gone down to the extent of saying Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) will jail you (Jonathan), that is why you are afraid. I am holding my breath because in an African setting, you talk to elders with respect and that is why I am trying to get the right words to describe my feelings. Baba (Obasanjo) is not a young man. He was Head of State at 39. So averagely, he should be about 84 or 85 and I am requesting that he should graciously fade away into the midnight. In the Bible, Romans chapter 13 states clearly that we should pray for those in authority. It says pray for your leaders so that they don’t run aground. So, to me that is my own interpretation. If baba (Obasanjo) had attended the Council of State meeting in Abuja, where they were very well briefed, and that it was decided that only the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that could pronounce a postponement and that he should go and come up with a decision and Jega addressed a press conference. Now to start comparing our President with Gbagbo in Cote d’Ivoire is unjust, unsavoury and unfair because what is the population of Ivory Coast? What are the tribal sentiments of Ivory Coast? Are they the same here? I want to plead with Baba. God has been kind to him and he has served his own time. I don’t want to conclude that his life will be like King Saul in the Bible. I pray it will not be so. Baba has played his role. No generation can finish any job. Nation building is a continuous exercise. You come, do your own and go back into history.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Apart from the issue of insecurity which Jega gave as the reason for the postponement of the elections, do you think INEC was ready to conduct the elections on February 14 and 28?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I granted an interview recently and there were two posers that I gave to Jega. Thank God Jega is a professor. He told us that there was an 88 per cent collection rate in Borno State where there is massive insurgency as well as in Yobe and Adamawa states. Here, where there is calmness and civility, only 30 something per cent of the populace had collected PVCs. It is just improving. I think as of last Friday over three million had collected as against 5.6 million. And he is saying we are ready. Without the Permanent Voter Cards, you are immediately disenfranchised. Ask Jega that as a professor, will it be fair to conduct an examination whereby you have (students who have) covered 80 per cent syllabus and another class where you have (students who have) covered only 30 per cent syllabus. Is it fair?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The other question is this issue of card readers. Have they been tested? I am talking as an electronic engineer of 48 years in practice. You just bought equipment from China and the last time it was tested was in China. Our own environment is not the same. Look at the vagaries of the temperature here from the swampy areas of the South and the savannah in the North. Who has tested the equipment? Now, I am not saying they will not all work but if there are almost 9,000 polling units in Lagos, is he saying all the 9,000 card readers will be functional? If the card readers fail to work in some polling units, what shall we do?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Why did the military surround former Governor Bola Tinubu’s house?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If Bola Tinubu finds his way into national government, I will go on exile. He hasn’t the temerity and the calmness of mind. They don’t even know what to do in power. Because the vice-president is his boy, he will just order that Bode George should be picked up. He said soldiers came to him but he must have been dreaming. When he said soldiers had surrounded his house, I drove down there because my house is not too far from there. I know the hierarchy of the military and its behaviour. That they surrounded his house is lie number one because on either side of his house are two buildings. There is also one at the back. So, I wondered where the soldiers were hiding. Why would you lie for public consumption? So when I got down there, I knew that his spin doctors were working. These days people go on the social media and the story went viral. Why would he (President Godluck Jonathan) from Abuja, be running after Bola? Let them be very careful about the statements they are making. More so, if Obasanjo is now linking Jonathan with what happened in Cote d’Ivoire and coup; not in this 21st Century. That is past and gone forever. No nation goes through this kind of tribulation twice and survive. We have had our own experience of Civil War and I pray that God does not direct our minds in that direction and our people have to watch their mouths.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>The general perception in Lagos is that the governorship race is between yourself and Tinubu.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Absolutely not! In the PDP, no individual owns the party. I happen to have been the first national vice chairman, South-West PDP, and then became deputy national chairman South and then deputy national chairman for the whole country and having done that, they have honoured me that as long as I remain in the party, I remain a member of the Board of Trustees and I am the only one representing the South-West in the national caucus forever. That is a great honour in our party but I don’t decide who becomes a candidate. Primaries were conducted and in this particular case, the voice of the people became louder than anybody’s. I am not like Bola Tinubu, I don’t have the papers of the party in my pocket. I don’t even have a veto power. But the other side doesn’t practice democracy. We have friends that are members there. Jimi Agbaje has no godfather but will not behave like an authoritarian governor.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>But Senator Musiliu Obanikoro said you were the one that imposed Agbaje.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> That is absolute garbage, he knew he was lying. You know he came from their party and that is why he was saying it was me. He has now retracted the statement. We are now one indivisible party and we are ready for election. All the vagaries and all that happened during the primary was a test of the ability and the strength of our party and we listened to the voice of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Jonathan’s perception in the South-West is not as favourable as it was in 2011. There has been blame on you and other PDP Yoruba leaders for allowing Buhari to increase in popularity in the South-West.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If you had said this about two or three weeks ago, I would have agreed. I got these feelers straight to my face. People came to me and said they would vote for Agbaje but they will not vote for Jonathan because he had done nothing for us here. And I explained that there is a general misunderstanding of the concept of operation in this country. The long periods of military rule presupposed that the Head of State was responsible for everything and it is that same thinking that is responsible for this situation. We are all hands on deck explaining the differences between military governance and democratic governance.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Highly educated people, my age groups, were asking me this question but I explained to them that 60 per cent of the impact the President will have on you is through the federal allocation to your state. Does he give every state and every local government allocation? Yes. They collect it religiously every 30 days. In the area of security, he guarantees it. It is only three states in the North-East battling insecurity. There is peace and he guarantees that. What of infrastructure? All federal roads in Lagos from Alfred Rewane in Ikoyi all the way to Third Mainland Bridge and Ebute Meta are federal roads. Are they like the roads in Somolu and Akowonjo?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Secondly, the APC refused to participate in the National Conference. Since he (Buhari) has refused to debate, what will he do about the resolution unanimously reached by the National Conference? What will happen to the report? The decisions of the National Conference are so germane to the future of this country. The more reasons why the man who conceptualised it should be allowed to implement his decisions.</div>

I'll Flee Nigeria If APC Wins - Bode George

In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, a national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, speaks on the recent comments of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other national i…

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Peterside Escapes Death As Gunmen Disrupt Rivers APC Rally

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGlMt6qBWDbv4bZKh_A-DqPSp3-tX1FlOH7C_QEL1F7SGtl4WZcwbgxCpgf9-8Kb2A4pliwpWkSkpLkoTKQFvycRppc9nQski2rHqNEHMxbh-2CpCq1GiOCV277QERPZLAqk1AWd9wbbi/s1600/Dakuku-Peterside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGlMt6qBWDbv4bZKh_A-DqPSp3-tX1FlOH7C_QEL1F7SGtl4WZcwbgxCpgf9-8Kb2A4pliwpWkSkpLkoTKQFvycRppc9nQski2rHqNEHMxbh-2CpCq1GiOCV277QERPZLAqk1AWd9wbbi/s1600/Dakuku-Peterside.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, escaped death on Tuesday as unknown gunmen disrupted the party’s campaign rally in Okrika Local Government Area of the state.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Peterside was whisked away by security operatives in the midst of the deafening sound of sporadic gunshots few minutes after three explosives went off close to the campaign ground at the Okrika National Secondary School Field.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The initial bomb scare had caused a stampede as APC supporters took to their heels to avoid being hit by three separate explosions which were later confirmed to have been fireworks thrown into the scene by suspected mischief makers.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The party supporters that were dispersed by the three separate explosions immediately reconvened only to be sent out of the campaign venue by the sporadic gunshots.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Security agents went down on the ground after drawing their guns in a bid to spot out where the unknown gunmen were hiding to hit them back.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Details later...</div>

Peterside Escapes Death As Gunmen Disrupt Rivers APC Rally

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, escaped death on Tuesday as unknown gunmen disrupted the party’s campaign rally in Okrika Local Gove…

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JUST IN: Jonathan Sends List Of Ministerial Nominees To Senate

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBs_wT9u0ClYrsTw_NANUPaN7aMX46eDwzVOVor98dqsfwondqmE2S_gDcwD1XvsJCogjP8b1cKaN4O-oyPWxpoSdOsptBZvZuElZu4txVFlCWuUhgQu5mjOzc5MmeRjFTt0KRg6LKSWb/s1600/Goodluck+Jonathan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBs_wT9u0ClYrsTw_NANUPaN7aMX46eDwzVOVor98dqsfwondqmE2S_gDcwD1XvsJCogjP8b1cKaN4O-oyPWxpoSdOsptBZvZuElZu4txVFlCWuUhgQu5mjOzc5MmeRjFTt0KRg6LKSWb/s1600/Goodluck+Jonathan2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday sent eight ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and approval.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The names, contained in a letter signed by Jonathan and read by Senate President David Mark, include senator Musiliu Obanikoro from Lagos state.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Others are, Mrs. Patricia Akwashiki (Nasarawa); Mrs. Hauwa'u Lawan (Jigawa); Prof Nicholas Akise Ada (Benue); Col. Augustine Akobundu retd. (Abia); Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo (Ebonyi); Mr. Kenneth Kobani (Rivers) and Senator Joel Ikenya (Taraba).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The Senate has not fixed a date for the screening.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Details later...</div>

JUST IN: Jonathan Sends List Of Ministerial Nominees To Senate

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday sent eight ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening and approval. The names, contained in a letter signed by Jonathan and read by Senate President David…

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PDP Faction Wants Jonathan Out As Candidate

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-uhB-_wIFa4UYRjiwz0zVczYBWnYGwTcCpRzJbPXVWxVGM1BGIsbsseKgKjUUAeQfTpj3o-OmZhLbehpDnuhRfDfMw1c-xEkbr39M5CL3YfTyeg5uU5bSSDHuw3G6kx-n9XarNJP6gd3/s1600/GEJ-sad-church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-uhB-_wIFa4UYRjiwz0zVczYBWnYGwTcCpRzJbPXVWxVGM1BGIsbsseKgKjUUAeQfTpj3o-OmZhLbehpDnuhRfDfMw1c-xEkbr39M5CL3YfTyeg5uU5bSSDHuw3G6kx-n9XarNJP6gd3/s1600/GEJ-sad-church.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>SaharaReporters has learned of a new twist in the desire of some top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a six-month postponement of polls in Nigeria, with several sources saying a faction of the party would work to replace President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate. </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In separate interviews with <b><a href="http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/17/pdp-faction-wants-jonathan-out-candidate-party-faces-deepening-schisms">SaharaReporters</a></b>, numerous PDP officials disclosed that many founding members of the party had lost confidence in Mr. Jonathan’s viability as a candidate, adding that a faction within the party had discussed easing the incumbent president out of the presidential race, and replacing him with another candidate from the Niger Delta zone. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The only obstacle to the plan is that the South-South might kick against it, so we have arrived at a consensus to find another candidate,” one of our sources, a northerner, said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “If elections could be postponed for six months, we will definitely replace President Jonathan as our candidate,” another member of the faction confirmed. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In a clear sign that the party was crumbling was within, several high ranking PDP members said they regretted letting President Jonathan carry the party’s flag as a presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections. Some of them confessed to being aware that the party’s prospects looked dire with Mr. Jonathan holding the presidential ticket. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We are the ones who started the push for six months delay in the elections to enable us [to] put in place an interim government which would then enable the party to change its presidential candidate to somebody that is more competitive,” one official confessed. He added that Mr. Jonathan’s faction also sought the extension for their own designs, which was to explore ways of rigging the elections. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Our interviews revealed that many PDP governorship candidates in the north and elsewhere in the country were secretly working against Mr. Jonathan’s re-election or quietly distancing themselves from him. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> One party leader revealed that some candidates in the northern area were all but campaigning for Mr. Buhari, the presidential flag bearer of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, some PDP officials told SaharaReporters that, while they hoped that President Jonathan could be sidelined to increase the chances of the party in the upcoming elections, they also wished that the APC would also dump Mr. Buhari as its presidential candidate. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The party officials claimed that key political figures across Nigeria continue to view a Buhari Presidency with mortal fear because of his stubborn personality and his promise to punish the corrupt.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Several of the PDP officials told SaharaReporters that the rift between Mr. Jonathan and a large faction in the party that wants him dumped was reflected in the responses to former President Olusegun Obasanjo who two days ago dramatically announced his resignation from the PDP, publicly tearing his membership card. Two of the officials disclosed that, while Mr. Jonathan’s aides launched direct attacks on Mr. Obasanjo, the officials at the party headquarters in Abuja adopted a more cautious and subdued tone, regretting that the former president had decided to leave the party. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Some officials stated that the party hierarchy viewed Mr. Obasanjo’s public departure from the party as a dangerous signal and as a major threat. “Chief Obasanjo doesn’t just come out swinging the way he has done recently unless he is privy to the existence of some third forces that are against President Jonathan. And to the best of our knowledge, the former president has never fought a battle like this and lost, no matter how long it takes him,” one of the officials said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The truth is that many senators, honorable members of the House of Reps and governors are loyal to Baba, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. So they are doing Baba’s bidding even though they are giving Mr. President [Jonathan] the impression that they are with him,” another party official in Abuja said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The party officials acknowledged that the statements of former President Obasanjo in the last three days had caused a major havoc on the party’s plans to work towards an interim national government. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Several of the PDP officials attributed the fractiousness within the party to the way Mr. Jonathan and his wife, Patience Jonathan, imposed unpopular candidates on the party in various parts of the country. Even though they agreed that Mr. Obasanjo had imposed candidates on the party in the past, one PDP official said the Jonathans consistently backed candidates who were extremely unpopular within the PDP and unelectable. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Asked if President Jonathan was aware of plans to replace him, some of our sources said the president knew that many powerful members of the party were not satisfied with his style and low performance. One source said former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and even the party’s chairman of the board of trustees, Tony Anenih, were far from enthusiastic about Mr. Jonathan’s re-election. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “President Jonathan’s candidature and unpopularity are damaging the party,” one official stated. He added that the party’s electoral prospects in the general elections had dwindled dramatically. “We are only sure of carrying about 11 states in the country, according to our internal polls,” one party official disclosed.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Party officials also said they were determined to change numerous candidates for governorships, the Senate and House of Representatives in several states if the six-month postponement ever became a reality. “The way President Jonathan and First Lady Patience Jonathan picked many candidates has now weakened the party across the country,” one top official in Abuja complained.</div>

PDP Faction Wants Jonathan Out As Candidate

SaharaReporters has learned of a new twist in the desire of some top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a six-month postponement of polls in Nigeria, with several sources saying a fa…

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