(http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Diepreye-Alamieyeseigha-300x150.jpg) (http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Diepreye-Alamieyeseigha.jpg)By Lawrence olaoye, Abuja and Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
Former governor of Bayelsa state and a beneficiary of state pardon by President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Dipriye Alamieyeseigha, has declared that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2015.
Alamieyeseigha while speaking yesterday at the 3rd general conference of the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) said the northern agitators will, at the appropriate time, join the moving train. "They may have their opinion, but I can assure you that President Jonathan will remain as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2015," he boasted.
Similarly, the former Minister of Information and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has also warned that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must only field President Goodluck Jonathan as the sole candidate for its Presidential primaries against the 2015 Presidential election.
Asked what would happen to the inalienable constitutional rights of other Nigerians to aspire to leadership position in the country, Clark said "there is an incumbent who has not done a second term, so northerners have no place, it's not yet the turn of a northerner. They have the right to contest as Nigerians, but in other parties, not in PDP," he said.
"In 1979, former President Shehu Shagari contested with other people for the ticket but in 1983 he alone contested the primary even though there were men of timber and caliber in NPN who would have contested with him at that time, but the party gave it to him unopposed. We don't believe in double standard.
"We of the South-South believe that it is in the interest of Nigeria, in the unity of our country that Jonathan should contest; no one should strike him out; movement of power or power rotation is not proper at this time. In the constitution of Nigeria, every president has two elections to be contested. Shagari did it in 1979 and in 1983 he did it again; then in 1999 Obasanjo did it and in 2003 he contested again. In 2007, Umaru Yar'adua of blessed memory did it and if he had remained alive, he would have done it again in 2011. So Jonathan is not a different person; he's a Nigerian; the President of Nigeria, therefore he too has the right to contest again. Nothing is new about it because Constitution says you must contest for two elections and rule for eight years. It is only then you are disqualified," Clark declared.
Speaking on threat of violence if President Jonathan did not return, Clark said "No one owns the country more than anybody; Nigeria belongs to all of us and there is nobody who is superior to another. If you are talking about peace, peace for who? So if a northerner does not rule this country won't there be peace? They have ruled for over 38 years, we have only ruled from the south for less than 14 years, and when Lugard united this country, he didn't say the north is superior to the south. We are all equal in this country, and anybody can aspire to the highest position in this country, so nobody has the prerogative to rule others."
Responding to Clark's statement, Buba Galadima, National Secretary to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), who reacted in a telephone conversation with our reporter in his capacity as a partisan Nigerian, said it was unfortunate that an elderstatesman of the Ijaw leader caliber could make such statement.
Galadima said "Ordinarily, I would not want to join issues with Chief Edwin Clark as a cultured man with a background with high respect for elders but what he has said only demonstrated the fact that he is an ingrate. All Chief Edwin Clark has ever been in life has been with the support of the north. He became the Federal Commissioner of Information under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon, a northerner, through which he climbed into national relevance. Though he has his inalienable right as a Nigerian to express his personal opinion, it is unfortunate that Chief Clark could, at his age, could be advocating for chaos in the country."
According to him, the Ijaw leader and Asari Dokubo, in their disparaging statements, have only succeeded in whipping up sentiments in favour of the north and that their outbursts would only ginger the northern leaders to come together to speak with one voice ahead of the 2015 Presidential election.
He pointed out that Clark's declaration that the PDP should not field any other candidate aside from Jonathan in 2015 only goes to show the disdain the octogenarian has for democracy and democratic tenets. Galadima concluded that Clark must have lost touch with the nation's political realities and must enjoy the sympathy of the people due to his old age.
Meanwhile, the SNPA in communiqué released after its meeting has restated the need for a national dialogue to discuss the manner of coexistence in the country to avoid crisis. The Assembly observed that as the country was moving towards the precipice, there was the need for all the ethnic groups in Nigeria to dialogue.
It also charged Jonathan to urgently tackle corruption which it regretted has become a national malaise. It also wanted the President to address the issue of youth unemployment to reduce the rate of crime emanating from youth restiveness.
While admitting that there was need for a peoples' constitution, the conference was of the strong conviction that making a constitution was the exclusive right of the people insisting that the National Assembly's duty is only to amend the clauses.
The Assembly however stressed that the decision to return or stop Jonathan in 2015 is the responsibility of Nigerian electorates.
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