A former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu has admitted that governors of northern states of the country elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) worked against the reelection bid of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.
According to Aliyu, who made the admission in a statement on Friday, they worked against Jonathan’s re-election because he reneged on an agreement not to seek a second term.
The former Niger State governor 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.
“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.
“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 said.
