Jonathan In 2015: Yes Or No? Presidency Silent On Jonathan’s 2015 Intentions

President Goodluck Jonathan is
yet to officially declare his
intention (or lack thereof) to run
for a second term, as the 2015
general and presidential elections
loom nearer.
Jonathan, as the Sunday
Independent notes, has used every
opportunity to wave the issue
aside while urging other
presidential aspirants to go ahead
with their own declarations. Thus,
his plans to that effect have been
kept in closed wraps.
However, his aides maintained that
he will speak on the issue at the
most appropriate time.
Also, while it is certain that he will
contest for the election, his aides
have been reluctant to speak on
his decision for 2015, more so as
the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) is yet to
announce the flag off of
electioneering campaigns for
politicians.
Nonetheless, Jonathan remains the
major unofficial aspirant for the
presidential seat under the
umbrella of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) come
2015 and whose eventual
candidacy can be taken for
granted.
Not only is he the incumbent
President with a right to run for a
second term, there are yet no
known serious rivals or contenders
to the seat within the PDP.
According to Sunday Independent‘s
sources, the PDP is planning to
hold a mini-convention in the next
few weeks during which Jonathan
is expected to make a formal
declaration of his ambition to go
for re-election.
The convention, which will officially
pick the party’s presidential
flagbearer for the 2015 election
should be a walkover and mere
formality for Jonathan, as the
party hierarchy is already working
for his re-election.
The party’s National Chairman,
Adamu Muazu, is said to be
streamlining the process of
selecting delegates from the states
and local government councils for
the convention to make them fewer
and reduce possibilities and areas
of friction during the event.
Chairman of the party’s Board of
Trustees (BoT), Tony Anenih, had
in the aftermath of the upheaval
that resulted from the party’s last
convention in Abuja, urged
Jonathan to openly declare his
ambition and douse tension, a
move the President declined to
make.
The crisis had pitched pro-
Jonathan party faithful against
those who did not want him to run
for re-election, including governors
and federal lawmakers.
Eventually, five of the aggrieved
governors, as well as lawmakers
and some party chieftains defected
to the rival All Progressives
Congress (APC).
The calm that returned to the PDP
thereafter has enabled Jonathan to
consolidate his hold on the party
machinery in the run-up to the
2015 presidential election.
Only last week in Calabar, Cross
Rivers State, Anenih became the
highest-ranking party member to
confirm that Jonathan will indeed
contest for re-election next year.