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Jonathan demands automatic presidential candidacy to join APC  

Jonathan demands automatic presidential candidacy to join APC  

Former Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, will join the All Progressives Congress (APC) if President Muhammadu Buhari endorsed him as the party’s automatic presidential candidate, according to a report by Saturday PUNCH.

The medium reported that some northern emirs had reached out to the former President, asking him to contest, while he had so far stayed away from activities of the party through which he became president, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including the last national convention.

Former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State had also stated that it was unlikely that Jonathan was still a member of the PDP as he was no longer involved in the party’s activities.

On Thursday, however, posters of the ex-President flooded the national secretariat of the APC on Blantyre Street, Wuse 2.

The medium quoted a top source in the APC to have said that the former president was seeking an assurance that he would be handed the party’s presidential ticket.

The source said “Jonathan has already been president before. So, the APC cannot offer him anything except the presidential ticket. Imagine him contesting against Osinbajo and Tinubu and losing? Wouldn’t that be disgraceful?

“So, he has made his position clear. If he is to come to the APC, he must be given the assurance that he will be given the party’s ticket. That is his demand.”

The source added that the former president may be sold as a “compromise candidate” amid the raging zoning debate in the country.

“Jonathan is the only Nigerian alive that can promise to serve only one presidential term and abide by it because he is limited by the constitution. If he serves one term, then power returns to the North. It is also not an easy decision but I can assure you that President Buhari will have no qualms with a Jonathan presidency,” he added.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the APC National Working Committee would give special waivers to select aspirants based on the powers conferred on it by the National Executive Committee.

Section 31.3 of the new APC constitution titled ‘waiver’, reads in part, “Subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee, the National Working Committee may, in special circumstances, grant a waiver to a person seeking a national party office, who is otherwise not qualified under this constitution if, in its opinion, such a waiver is in the best interest of the party.

“Subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee, the National Working Committee may, in special circumstances, grant a waiver to a person seeking the office of President, Vice President, governor, deputy governor, senator, member of the House Representatives, who is otherwise not qualified under this constitution if, in its opinion, such a waiver is in the best interest of the party.”

 

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Faruk Khalil
Faruk Khalilhttps://nigeriansketch.com/
Khalil Faruk (Deputy Editor-in-Chief), has a Bachelors and Master's degree in Political Science and has worked as a reporter, features editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief respectively in a leading Nigerian daily. He has undergone trainings in journalism, photo journalism and online journalism within and outside Nigeria.

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1 COMMENT

  1. As I have always said,and still say now,it will be unproductive for GEJ to return to system that not only failed him,but also almost took his life.

    Even greater,is the DISSERVICE TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, that stood by him by crowning him with an enviable and unbeatable reputation.

    I see him as an intelligent man,but this whole fiasco really beats me. He wants to be fooled again,or is he coming for revenge?

    What can he do in four years,except to probably be escorted out of Aso Rock in a casket as dramatized by the even more foolish eggheads that were deceived by unknowledgable people,who yet wielded the power of wisdom in 2014 and 2015?

    It means he has no sense of judgement.

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