The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak has said that the North is free to vote for or against President Goodluck Jonathan in the upcoming 2015 elections.
He spoke on Kaduna Liberty Radio and referred to the Northern Elders Forum who had said Northerners who vote for Jonathan in 2015 are betrayers.
“If you say you won’t vote for Goodluck another person would vote for him even from your own house. If Ango Abdullahi says he will not vote for Goodluck Jonathan, Tanko Yakassai will vote for him,” Gulak said.
He added, “Nigeria got it wrong maybe right from the beginning. Don’t forget that immediately after independence, we had military coup because political development at that time was turbulent. Don’t forget operation wetie in the Southwest and the fact that Zik had to leave the Southwest party to form the NCNC. Don’t forget that our politics at that time was regionalised.
“The Southwest had the Action Group (AG), the North had the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and the East had the NCNC. And because politics was so regionalised, people went to their regional cocoon and I think that was where we started getting it wrong.
“Instead of looking at issues from a nationalist point, we were more regional and after that turbulence that followed, the Military came in and there were coups and counter coups until 1979 when we again had a taste of democracy under Shehu Shagari. After four years, the military again came in.”
Speaking on the rumour of President Jonathan habing annointed a governor for Kaduna in 2015 in the person of Senator Isaiah Balat, Gulak said “this is the handiwork of the opposition who have come back with their mischief.”
He said:”President Goodluck has nothing to do with Kaduna politics in terms of who becomes governor. It’s entirely in the hands of the Kaduna people.
“We know their tactics which is to divide the house, bring in differences for the opposition to come in and take over. The strategy of divide and rule, causing confusion within the presidency and the PDP will not work”.
He said Nigerians should let courts decide if Jonathan was constitutionally empowered to run in 2015 saying, “let us leave that to the court to decide. President Goodluck became President on 6th May, 2010 after the death of late President Yar’Adua and the constitution says on the death of the president, the vice becomes the president. President Goodluck did not write the constitution.”