Abuja — President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday told governors elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he has made up his mind to contest the 2011 presidential election.
He also told them that his formal public declaration will take place on September 18.
Jonathan made this known at a closed-door meeting with the governors last night in the presidential villa.
According to one of the governors who spoke with LEADERSHIP last night, "President Goodluck Jonathan has formally informed us about his intention to contest the 2011 presidential election and asked for our support. We received the news very well."
"Some of us have offered to be his coordinators at the zonal levels. We told him most of us have been waiting for the news."
LEADERSHIP gathered that some of the state governors: Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi (Rivers), Chief Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa) and others who spoke at the meeting pledged their total support for Jonathan's presidential bid.
Relevant Links
The governors were also said to have expressed serious concern about the activities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in their states and advised the president to call the anti-graft agency to order.
However, Jonathan reportedly told the governors that he was not aware of the current move of the EFCC.
"The president told us he was not aware of what the EFCC was doing. He said that the anti-graft agency was an independent body and he did not interfere with its activities," the governor who doesn't want his name mentioned said.
"Some of us believe him. And we hope the EFCC will do a professional job in its current investigations of the financial dealings of some of my colleagues."
The EFCC had in separate operations raided Kwara and Jigawa states on Monday and arrested local government chairmen, commissioners and other senior government officials, over alleged dirty financial deals.
Some of the governors who attended the meeting included, Alhaji Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Babangida Aliyu (Niger) among others.
Comments Post a comment