Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State at the weekend said Jonathan, like any other Nigerian, is free to contest the 2011 presidential elections because that right has been guaranteed by the constitution. He said any person in the country today daring the president is daring God ‘because it is God who put him on the seat.
He said the constitution is very clear on the matter, and as law abiding citizens, we should not condone acts that will lead to the disenfranchising of any Nigerian in 2011.
His position seems to contradict calls by leading political figures in the North that power must remain in the region until the year 2015.
Yuguda said the agreed zoning formula adopted by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should not be a reason to jettison merit in the quest to find the right candidate to rule the country next year.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Yuguda also accused the PDP Reform Group of trying to cause distraction in the polity, saying as far as he is concerned, “there is nothing wrong with the status quo ante in the party.
“If the so-called reformists are serious about reforms, they should go and contest elections first before they could talk of reforms. Let them go and taste their popularity at the ballot box. When they are elected representatives of the people, they can talk of reforms.
We are presently at the learning curve. The President should be allowed to work. He should not be bugged down by all these problems.
“If they are serious about reforms, they should go and taste their popularity at the polls. Let them be elected. There are many in the reform group who may never have voted in their lives. They never faced elections and yet they are telling us about reforms.
“Let us fine tune what we have and let us try to see where we have gone wrong and work to correct it. I want us to fix things and work as a family; we must be preparing ourselves towards 2011. You cannot talk of reforms when you are approaching elections.
It is ironic because 70 percent of those in the reform group have never contested for election, they never know what it takes to win election,” he added. Yuguda said the reform group should tarry with their demands until PDP wins all its elections in 2011.