A former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, has said that there was no iota of truth that northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party worked against the re-election bid of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan during the 2015 general election as claimed by a former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu.
Aliyu had on Friday revealed that northern governors of the PDP worked against the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
He said they worked against Jonathan’s re-election because he reneged on an agreement not to seek a second term.
Aliyu said this in a statement he signed titled, ‘Why We Opposed Jonathan’s Second Term Bid –Babangida Aliyu.’
He was reacting to his purported suspension by the PDP in Chachanga Local Government Area of Niger State for alleged anti-party activities, including working against Jonathan in 2015.
But Jang who was governor of Plateau State at the time, in a statement in Jos on Saturday, said there was no time the 19 northern governors “met, deliberated and decided not to support the re-election bid of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.”
In the statement titled, ‘Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu Lied,’ signed by his Media Consultant, Clinton Garuba, Jang said, “The attention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State, Senator Dr. Jonah David Jang, has just been drawn to a statement credited to the past governor of Niger State, where he alleged that the then 19 states northern governors met, deliberated and all decided not to support the re-election of the then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. We wish to state categorically that Senator Dr. Jonah Jang was not part of that meeting.
“For the avoidance of doubt, despite the perceived shortcomings of President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Jonah believed that Jonathan was better equipped to rule Nigeria at the time, especially when his opponent was General Buhari. Jang did not hide his conviction concerning Buhari’s inabilities to resolve the Nation’s challenges and sensitivities of the issues at the moment. Unfortunately, Buhari won and we are all witnesses to the tales of woes.
“We view the statement of Dr. Aliyu as an attempt to drag the hard earn reputation of Jang into disrepute, having served Nigeria as a military officer, later a civilian Governor and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and discharged his responsibilities without blemish.
“Senator Jang is not one who speaks from both sides of his mouth, rather he speaks and supports only what he believes, little wonder that Plateau was won by President Jonathan in the 2015 general elections, largely due to the hard work of the then governor.
“For emphasis sake, there was no basis for Dr. Jang not to have supported Dr. Jonathan especially when the contest was against General Buhari.”
In the meantime, here’s a statement issued by the former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, on Friday – he revealed why northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party worked against the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
He said they worked against Jonathan’s re-election because he reneged on an agreement not to seek a second term.
Aliyu said this in a statement he signed titled, ‘Why We Opposed Jonathan’s Second Term Bid –Babangida Aliyu.’
He was reacting to his purported suspension by the PDP in Chachanga Local Government Area of Niger State for alleged anti-party activities, including working against Jonathan in 2015.
Jonathan lost to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
He said, “All the governors in the North under the PDP supported the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to complete the remaining years of Yar’Adua’s tenure and to contest the next presidential election as a sole candidate of our great party.
“However, midway, President Goodluck Jonathan insisted to run for the office in 2015 against the grain of our earlier agreement.
“Since this was against the grain of our earlier agreement in the party, and which we, the governors in the North felt the North would have been short-changed if Jonathan had succeeded, we rose stoutly to insist on the agreement we all had.
“On that premise, we opposed Jonathan. But all along, Goodluck Jonathan had enjoyed every support from the governors in the north and the entire region.”
Aliyu, who was a former chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and a former leader of a PDP faction, said the North stood disadvantaged by Yar’Adua’s death and the insistence that Jonathan should run for the office of president in 2015.
He said, “We acted in good spirit and argued our points based on principle and on the subsisting agreement we had with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. That agreement was written and accepted by all.
“We didn’t oppose Jonathan but we were opposed to his insistence on a second term in office because the North would have lost out completely.”
“It is, therefore, wrong for anyone to erroneously say that I, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, had opposed Goodluck Jonathan,” he added.
