18 Governors storm Minna
President Goodluck Jonathan will on Saturday continue with his campaign shuttle as he storms Minna, the Niger State capital, with 18 governors and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a zonal rally.
Impeccable sources told New Telegraph that Jonathan may formally declare his re-election bid on Saturday ahead of the February 14 presidential election during the North Central rally.
A competent source told our correspondent that all the 18 PDP governors will meet on Friday evening in Minna where they are expected to discuss development in the polity, the future of the party in 2015 elections, and Jonathan’s candidacy. The PDP governors met last in Katsina.
The source added that the governors would on Saturday morning join the president and PDP leadership at the rally where Jonathan is expected to make his decision known on the 2015 election. The Saturday rally is going to be the first major rally since 2011 election where all PDP governors will be in attendance. Already, arrangements are in top gear in Minna for the event.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that shortly after Governor Babangida Aliyu announced that 18 PDP governors will accompany the President to Niger State on Saturday, the State Security Committee immediately went into closed-door meeting ostensibly to perfect arrangements for the visit. The source, who pleaded anonymity, also said the country’s first citizen choose to declare for 2015 presidential election in Minna because the governor is the Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF).
It was also gathered that the presence of former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar and Prof. Jerry Gana in the state also informed the choice. “We are in high spirit to receive Mr. President in Niger State.
We will be honoured to have him declare his intention for 2015 Presidency. In Niger, we are 100 per cent PDP with the feeble opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) whose some of its members are going to defect to the PDP when President Jonathan visits, on Saturday,” he added.
The source however refused to disclose the names of likely defectors, adding that “Niger State is 100 per cent PDP and the APC is dead on arrival”. Aliyu had earlier made the announcement after receiving the North Korean Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Jong Yong Chol and the Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority Board, Hajia Ina Ciroma, who paid him courtesy visits in the Government House, Minna.
The governor stated that all the 18 governors elected on the platform of PDP will also accompany the President to the state. The governor, however, did not give details of the visit but said “all of you are cordially invited.” The Trade Fair complex in the state capital is also being given a facelift ahead of the visit for the rally.
The governor was in Ilorin, Kwara State on Monday for a campaign rally, where he welcomed some defectors to the PDP. Kwara is part of the North-Central zone. A source said the President is keen on securing majority of his votes from the North from the North- Central states of Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, and Nasarawa to neutralise that of the North-West where the APC holds sway.
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