The elaborate plan being put in place for President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his bid to run for second term in office has been put on hold, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt on Friday.
As part of the preparations, many groups had been formed with the aim of selling the candidature of the President to Nigerians.
The groups, which have been placing paid advertorials on national television stations and newspapers, were put together by supporters of the President with the aim of working towards his declaration, which was planned to hold in May.
However, the current security challenge facing the country has affected the plan, as the President’s supporters believe such a declaration will be ill-timed.
The sacking of the Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulak, was also said to have come to the leadership and members of the Goodluck Support Group, being headed by Gulak, as a shock.
The former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, who was said to be angry with the sack, has also resigned his position as the national co-ordinator of the GSG.
His deputy, Dr. Eddy Awofeso, who is acting as the national coordinator of the group, however, said Gulak’s resignation would not affect the workings of the group.
Awofeso, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja, defended the refusal of the President to make his intention to run for a second term public now, saying the security situation in the country needed his attention.
He said, “There are about 3,000 groups working for the re-election of the President and they are all members of the Goodluck Support Group. We are still working together.
“Yes, we didn’t expect the resignation of the national co-ordinator when it came, but I’m acting now.
“However, we may need to appoint someone else in the position for the purpose of balancing.
“Concerning the declaration of the President, it will come but not now. The security challenge facing the country needs his total attention and that is what he is doing now. We all need to cooperate with him in this war against terrorism.”
It was also learnt that the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party had also postponed the party’s unity rallies in some states.
The President ought to have led the leadership of the ruling party to Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, on Saturday to receive defectors including Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura’s deputy, Dameshi Luka, who moved to the PDP on March 4, as well as Senator Solomon Ewuga, and some members of the House of Representatives like Mr. Joseph Kigbu, Mr. David Ombugadu and Mr. Ishaq Kana.
It was also gathered that the President had ordered the postponement of other rallies billed for Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Ibadan, Oyo State.
Meanwhile, the main group that was responsible for the financing of the President’s election in 2011, Neighbour to Neighbour, has changed its name to National Social Initiate.
The defunct group was headed by Ms. Stella Oduah, who after the election, was appointed minister of aviation by the President.
Oduah was however sacked following a series of scandals that trailed her term in office, which included the purchase of two bulletproof cars at N255m.
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