Ex-gov Aliyu admits northern PDP govs worked against Jonathan in 2015, explains why

A former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, on Friday, said the northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worked against the re-election of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) in 2015, because he failed to honour an agreement not to seek a second term.

He said this in a statement titled, ‘Why We Opposed Jonathan’s Second Term Bid –Babangida Aliyu’, while 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.

According to Aliyu, all the northern governors under the PDP supported Jonathan to complete the remaining years of Yar’Adua’s tenure, and to contest the next presidential election as a sole candidate of the party.

However, he noted that midway, Jonathan insisted to run for the office of the president in 2015 against the grain of their 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 said.

Read also: Northern govs went to Benue to dance, spit on the graves of the massacred, not for condolence —PDP

Aliyu, who was a former chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum and a former leader of a PDP faction said the North believed it stood disadvantaged by Yar’Adua’s death, likewise the insistence of Jonathan to run for the office of president in 2015.

“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.

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