A former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, has revealed why governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party from the Northern part of the country worked against the reelection of the party’s candidate for the 2015 presidential election, former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Aliyu offered the insight in a statement he personally signed on Friday.
The former Governor, who was suspended by the PDP in Chachanga Local Government Area of the State for working against Jonathan’s reelection bid, confirmed that the Northern Governors worked for the incumbent and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari.
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.
“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.”