President GEJ on 2nd term

“I didn’t sign any agreement to serve for a single term. If I had signed any agreement, they would have shown you.”- GEJ

President Goodluck Jonathan hosted his fifth Presidential Media Chat since returning to office in May 2011 yesterday Sunday September 30th 2013. The first was in September 2011.

The challenges confronting the country – insecurity, economy, corruption, dearth of infrastructure – are still largely the same since his first media chat. One new topic the president was pressed to make a definitive statement about is his ambition ahead of the 2015 general elections. In previous media chats, the president waved the question aside saying it was undue. With the 2015 general elections about two years away, his ambition – whether he would run in the elections or not –  was an additional issue for discussion.

However the the persistence question on whether or not he is contesting for the 2015 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan was evasive on whether he will run in 2015 or not. He said and I quote“If you declare too early, you will destabilise government, the electoral law gives a timeframe within which you can declare.”

GEJ further said he did not sign an agreement of a single term “I didn’t sign any agreement to serve for a single term. If I had signed any agreement, they would have shown you.” “They should show you the agreement. I only talked about single term arrangement for our country not that Jonathan will serve for a single term.” He added that it is not right to force a president to declare his intentions noting that “it is against the electoral law.