The Presidency on Tuesday rejected insinuations that President Goodluck Jonathan was going ahead with preparations for 2015 presidential election even though he had previously said there were no such moves for now.
It has also denied that it was already lining up some persons as his favoured candidates for the 2015 governorship election in the state as being speculated.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media an Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, lamented that in spite of clear and unambiguous pronouncements by President Jonathan that he remained fully focused on the implementation of his administration’s agenda for national transformation and not the politics of future elections, “some individuals, groups, organisations and sections of the media have continued to foster the myth of a president and administration solely concerned with jostling and self-positioning for the 2015 elections.”
It recalled that a national newspaper, recently published a front page news story titled ’21-member C’ttee Empanelled for Jonathan’s Second Term Bid’ “wherein it was stated, inter alia, that “the president’s aides and associates have set up a 21-member committee to advise (President) Jonathan on the viability of his entry into the presidential contest in 2015.’”
The Presidency noted that the impression was further created that a group known as ‘We, the people,’ which has recently published some advertisements regarding 2015 election, has its roots in the Presidency and that the 2015 campaign has now become the main preoccupation of the Presidency.
It stated: “This is totally untrue and without any basis in reality. As he has truthfully declared on several occasions, President Jonathan has not yet taken a decision on whether or not he will seek re-election in 2015 and has therefore not mandated any individual, committee or organisation to start working on his behalf for the 2015 elections.
“President Jonathan’s stated wish to be left alone to focus on delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation without unnecessary distractions should be respected.
“Political jobbers and their collaborators in the media should stop heating up the polity with baseless speculations and falsehoods revolving around imaginary plans and schemes by the Presidency for the 2015 elections.”
The Presidency said that it has also observed what seems to be an emerging trend whereby persons “with their eyes fixated on political opportunities in future elections are beginning to use President Jonathan’s name to promote themselves and their vaulting ambitions.”
It noted that it was clearly in this regard that “some unscrupulous persons began to print 2015 campaign posters with President Jonathan’s photograph whereas the Independent National Electoral Commission is yet to announce the commencement of campaigns and political parties are yet to conduct any primaries for the selection of candidates.
“Perhaps the most audacious illustration of this trend and resort to mischief and opportunism is represented by an advertorial which appeared at page 14 of the Saturday Vanguard of April 13, 2013 signed by one OBITEX Industrial and Investment Company Limited.
“The colour advert shows President Jonathan purportedly raising the hand of Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with the unmistakable suggestion that the President has endorsed Nze Nwankpo as the PDP Gubernatorial candidate for Anambra state.