President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria is not
interested in running for reelection in
February 2015. Instead, Mr. Jonathan and his
most trusted associates are surreptitiously
plotting to build a consensus for a two-year
tenure elongation for the president and other
public office holders across the country.
SaharaReporters first learned about this
presidential design two months ago. Our
investigations since then reveal that Mr. Jonathan and his most trusted associates have been working underground to sell the plan to some lawmakers, governors, and political office holders tagged “key stakeholders.”
Our investigation indicates that the president and his trusted allies are still playing the card close to their chests, ensuring that they sound out only those political actors deemed likely to be sympathetic to the plan. One strategy, according to one source, is to seek support from governors who are already in their second and terminal term as well as senators and members of the House of Representatives who may be vulnerable to challenge in an election. Among the political personalities identified as tacitly backing the elongation plan are Senate President David Mark, Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, and Segun Mimiko of Ondo, former minister Kema Chikwe, the chairman of the PDP’s board of trustees, Tony Anenih, and Ijaw political figure, Edwin Clark. At various times, both Mr. Mark and Governor Elechi have insinuated that the 2015 elections may not hold, hinting at severe security challenges.
Sources who spoke to us on the plan included
several legislators in Abuja and aides to two PDP
governors. They disclosed that President
Jonathan intends to defend the politically
explosive scheme on two grounds.
One is that a general extension of tenure, for a
minimum of eighteen months, would be
necessary to enable Mr. Jonathan to shepherd the creation of a new constitution. This argument rests on the need for Nigeria to fashion a constitution that incorporates some of the important recommendations of the national
confab convoked by President Jonathan and
chaired by retired Chief Justice Idris Kutigi.
According to several of our sources, the Jonathan administration plans to contend that the task of writing a new constitution should be resolved before Nigeria is subjected to another potentially volatile general elections.
“We should not see this as a matter of Mr.
President trying to stay longer in power. The fact
of the matter is that we should address the
constitutional issues first before talking about
another election,” said a source who is a
confidant of Governor Elechi.
The source added that the sheer task of going
through the voluminous report submitted by the
national confab on August 21, 2014 would require “almost a year of hard work.” According to him, it would be politically suicidal for Nigeria to go through another election and transition on the basis of the current constitution “which most
Nigerians are dissatisfied with.” He added: “If
elections happen next year and President
Jonathan wins, he may no longer feel the need to push for constitutional reforms. If another person wins, then that new president may not make a new constitution a priority. That means that this country will be back to square one. It will also mean that all the efforts we made in the confab would be in vain.”
President Jonathan’s other argument for tenure
elongation is that he needs about two years more In office to stabilize Nigeria by finally handling the security crisis posed by Boko Haram. A few sources disclosed that the president intends to make a strong case to potential critics in the US and European Union that the situation in Nigeria’s northeast zone is so dangerous that it would be impossible to hold elections in the area. He would pledge to devote the extra time in office to a decisive plan aimed at dislodging Boko Haram from all parts of Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan is expected to cite the recent string of successes by the Nigerian military against insurgents as proof that
he has a formula for defeating Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s political calendar sets aside next
February 2015 for the next set of elections, but
President Jonathan has not formally declared his
intention to run. Our investigations revealed that the president’s silence is deliberate, part of his strategy for pursuing tenure elongation. Mr.
Jonathan is reluctant to ratchet up the rhetoric of elections because he wants more time to quietly fine-tune and sell the option of a two-year tenure elongation.
Opponents of any form of tenure elongation
contend that President Jonathan wants to avoid
an election because he is scared of losing to the
opposition. “He has had six years to fix the
security problems and also advance a new
constitution, but failed,” said an Abuja-based
activist. The activist added; “President Jonathan
may also be afraid of a possible constitutional
crisis. The Nigerian constitution forbids anyone
running more than two terms in office. The
president has been sworn in twice already, once
to complete the tenure of [the] late President
Umaru Yar’Adua and then as substantive
president in 2011. There is likely to be a legal
challenge seeking clarification on whether he can run and possibly rule Nigeria again.”
A source at the Presidency stated that Mr.
Jonathan had sounded out some members of
national confab about the idea of the body
declaring that he should be given extra time to
complete a constitutional process, but the
response was not encouraging. “Those who were
consulted in the confab felt that any talk of
elongation would have divided the confab. So
they asked us to try alternative ways.” Our
investigation also revealed that the Presidency
considered the idea of using the Boko Haram
insurgency as a pretext to declare a state of war,
thereby shelving elections. That plan also fell
apart.
Mr. Jonathan’s current approach is to send his
associates to approach potentially sympathetic
senators and members of the House of
Representatives with the proposal of a new
constitution as justification for tenure elongation.
Our investigation disclosed that the latest
approach has met with mixed reactions.
Several senators who spoke anonymously with
SaharaReporters disclosed that Mr. Jonathan’s
emissaries spoke about postponing the elections
for two years in the interest of “Nigeria’s unity.”
The sources said legislators who are most likely to lose elections seemed enthusiastic about the
prospect of elongation. Two senators also
admitted that the president’s associates are likely to win over some legislators because of their ability to offer hefty sums to bribe those willing to support the elongation agenda.
A political adviser to former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar said he had heard speculations about
extending the tenure, but said he had no
independent confirmation of it. However, he
stated that Mr. Jonathan must be scared of
running in an election in which most northern
voters will be against him along with a significant
number of southerners voters disenchanted by
the president’s non-performance.
He said that Mr. Jonathan’s electoral fortunes
would be precarious in all the northern states
because of the divisive nature of the president’s
governance style.
“Apart from Benue and Plateau states and a
section of Southern Kaduna Christians, the
president has little chance of campaigning let
alone winning in the north,” said one of the critics of tenure elongation.
A strong opposition also looms in the southwest,
except in Ondo state where Governor Olusegun
Mimiko might help sway voters. But Mr. Mimiko’s
electoral boost may have fizzled with the
governor’s mismanagement of state resources
that has led to the non-payment of workers
salaries for at least four months.
Mr. Jonathan will likely win easily in the five
eastern states as well as the Niger Delta zone, but votes from the two areas would be insufficient to steer him back to Aso Rock. Besides, the enthusiastic welcome received in Imo State over the weekend by Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state and opposition presidential aspirant, suggest that some parts of the southeast may not wholly back Mr. Jonathan.
The president also faces considerable political
threat in Rivers State. Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s opposition to Jonathan’s candidacy suggests that the electoral victory figures cannot simply be written.
Several political sources, activists and pundits
who spoke to us predicted that Mr. Jonathan’s
tenure elongation plan would be doomed in the
same way that other such plans, hatched by
retired General Ibrahim Babangida, late
maximum dictator, Sanni Abacha and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, also collapsed.

And some ppl go read that tin o

that man, dumbhead, geg. Him no they read papers ni

Source please

Abeg, na who get sahara reporters? Because the kind news them dey carry ehn....

Lies from the pit of hell...

GEJ is a marvel to a the opposition.agwo abali onye ma ebe odebere isi,continue gueesing

Tomorrow, Lai Mohammed will quote this moronic publication as his source of information while his foot soldiers will quote it as fact.

Somehow for Saharareporters bloggers.

#in patoK voice#Sahara go tel ya mama go tell ya papa say I talk say na lie

Mc4larin:
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria is not
interested in running for reelection in
February 2015. Instead, Mr. Jonathan and his
most trusted associates are surreptitiously
plotting to build a consensus for a two-year
tenure elongation for the president and other
public office holders across the country.
SaharaReporters first learned about this
presidential design two months ago. Our
investigations since then reveal that Mr. Jonathan and his most trusted associates have been working underground to sell the plan to some lawmakers, governors, and political office holders tagged “key stakeholders.”
Our investigation indicates that the president and his trusted allies are still playing the card close to their chests, ensuring that they sound out only those political actors deemed likely to be sympathetic to the plan. One strategy, according to one source, is to seek support from governors who are already in their second and terminal term as well as senators and members of the House of Representatives who may be vulnerable to challenge in an election. Among the political personalities identified as tacitly backing the elongation plan are Senate President David Mark, Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, and Segun Mimiko of Ondo, former minister Kema Chikwe, the chairman of the PDP’s board of trustees, Tony Anenih, and Ijaw political figure, Edwin Clark. At various times, both Mr. Mark and Governor Elechi have insinuated that the 2015 elections may not hold, hinting at severe security challenges.
Sources who spoke to us on the plan included
several legislators in Abuja and aides to two PDP
governors. They disclosed that President
Jonathan intends to defend the politically
explosive scheme on two grounds.
One is that a general extension of tenure, for a
minimum of eighteen months, would be
necessary to enable Mr. Jonathan to shepherd the creation of a new constitution. This argument rests on the need for Nigeria to fashion a constitution that incorporates some of the important recommendations of the national
confab convoked by President Jonathan and
chaired by retired Chief Justice Idris Kutigi.
According to several of our sources, the Jonathan administration plans to contend that the task of writing a new constitution should be resolved before Nigeria is subjected to another potentially volatile general elections.
“We should not see this as a matter of Mr.
President trying to stay longer in power. The fact
of the matter is that we should address the
constitutional issues first before talking about
another election,” said a source who is a
confidant of Governor Elechi.
The source added that the sheer task of going
through the voluminous report submitted by the
national confab on August 21, 2014 would require “almost a year of hard work.” According to him, it would be politically suicidal for Nigeria to go through another election and transition on the basis of the current constitution “which most
Nigerians are dissatisfied with.” He added: “If
elections happen next year and President
Jonathan wins, he may no longer feel the need to push for constitutional reforms. If another person wins, then that new president may not make a new constitution a priority. That means that this country will be back to square one. It will also mean that all the efforts we made in the confab would be in vain.”
President Jonathan’s other argument for tenure
elongation is that he needs about two years more In office to stabilize Nigeria by finally handling the security crisis posed by Boko Haram. A few sources disclosed that the president intends to make a strong case to potential critics in the US and European Union that the situation in Nigeria’s northeast zone is so dangerous that it would be impossible to hold elections in the area. He would pledge to devote the extra time in office to a decisive plan aimed at dislodging Boko Haram from all parts of Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan is expected to cite the recent string of successes by the Nigerian military against insurgents as proof that
he has a formula for defeating Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s political calendar sets aside next
February 2015 for the next set of elections, but
President Jonathan has not formally declared his
intention to run. Our investigations revealed that the president’s silence is deliberate, part of his strategy for pursuing tenure elongation. Mr.
Jonathan is reluctant to ratchet up the rhetoric of elections because he wants more time to quietly fine-tune and sell the option of a two-year tenure elongation.
Opponents of any form of tenure elongation
contend that President Jonathan wants to avoid
an election because he is scared of losing to the
opposition. “He has had six years to fix the
security problems and also advance a new
constitution, but failed,” said an Abuja-based
activist. The activist added; “President Jonathan
may also be afraid of a possible constitutional
crisis. The Nigerian constitution forbids anyone
running more than two terms in office. The
president has been sworn in twice already, once
to complete the tenure of [the] late President
Umaru Yar’Adua and then as substantive
president in 2011. There is likely to be a legal
challenge seeking clarification on whether he can run and possibly rule Nigeria again.”
A source at the Presidency stated that Mr.
Jonathan had sounded out some members of
national confab about the idea of the body
declaring that he should be given extra time to
complete a constitutional process, but the
response was not encouraging. “Those who were
consulted in the confab felt that any talk of
elongation would have divided the confab. So
they asked us to try alternative ways.” Our
investigation also revealed that the Presidency
considered the idea of using the Boko Haram
insurgency as a pretext to declare a state of war,
thereby shelving elections. That plan also fell
apart.
Mr. Jonathan’s current approach is to send his
associates to approach potentially sympathetic
senators and members of the House of
Representatives with the proposal of a new
constitution as justification for tenure elongation.
Our investigation disclosed that the latest
approach has met with mixed reactions.
Several senators who spoke anonymously with
SaharaReporters disclosed that Mr. Jonathan’s
emissaries spoke about postponing the elections
for two years in the interest of “Nigeria’s unity.”
The sources said legislators who are most likely to lose elections seemed enthusiastic about the
prospect of elongation. Two senators also
admitted that the president’s associates are likely to win over some legislators because of their ability to offer hefty sums to bribe those willing to support the elongation agenda.
A political adviser to former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar said he had heard speculations about
extending the tenure, but said he had no
independent confirmation of it. However, he
stated that Mr. Jonathan must be scared of
running in an election in which most northern
voters will be against him along with a significant
number of southerners voters disenchanted by
the president’s non-performance.
He said that Mr. Jonathan’s electoral fortunes
would be precarious in all the northern states
because of the divisive nature of the president’s
governance style.
“Apart from Benue and Plateau states and a
section of Southern Kaduna Christians, the
president has little chance of campaigning let
alone winning in the north,” said one of the critics of tenure elongation.
A strong opposition also looms in the southwest,
except in Ondo state where Governor Olusegun
Mimiko might help sway voters. But Mr. Mimiko’s
electoral boost may have fizzled with the
governor’s mismanagement of state resources
that has led to the non-payment of workers
salaries for at least four months.
Mr. Jonathan will likely win easily in the five
eastern states as well as the Niger Delta zone, but votes from the two areas would be insufficient to steer him back to Aso Rock. Besides, the enthusiastic welcome received in Imo State over the weekend by Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state and opposition presidential aspirant, suggest that some parts of the southeast may not wholly back Mr. Jonathan.
The president also faces considerable political
threat in Rivers State. Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s opposition to Jonathan’s candidacy suggests that the electoral victory figures cannot simply be written.
Several political sources, activists and pundits
who spoke to us predicted that Mr. Jonathan’s
tenure elongation plan would be doomed in the
same way that other such plans, hatched by
retired General Ibrahim Babangida, late
maximum dictator, Sanni Abacha and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, also collapsed.

k

since2005:


k

Its to early to start booking space
NLders booking space since when Judas betrayed Jesus Christ

Mc4larin:
President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria is not
interested in running for reelection in
February 2015. Instead, Mr. Jonathan and his
most trusted associates are surreptitiously
plotting to build a consensus for a two-year
tenure elongation for the president and other
public office holders across the country.
SaharaReporters first learned about this
presidential design two months ago. Our
investigations since then reveal that Mr. Jonathan and his most trusted associates have been working underground to sell the plan to some lawmakers, governors, and political office holders tagged “key stakeholders.”
Our investigation indicates that the president and his trusted allies are still playing the card close to their chests, ensuring that they sound out only those political actors deemed likely to be sympathetic to the plan. One strategy, according to one source, is to seek support from governors who are already in their second and terminal term as well as senators and members of the House of Representatives who may be vulnerable to challenge in an election. Among the political personalities identified as tacitly backing the elongation plan are Senate President David Mark, Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, and Segun Mimiko of Ondo, former minister Kema Chikwe, the chairman of the PDP’s board of trustees, Tony Anenih, and Ijaw political figure, Edwin Clark. At various times, both Mr. Mark and Governor Elechi have insinuated that the 2015 elections may not hold, hinting at severe security challenges.
Sources who spoke to us on the plan included
several legislators in Abuja and aides to two PDP
governors. They disclosed that President
Jonathan intends to defend the politically
explosive scheme on two grounds.
One is that a general extension of tenure, for a
minimum of eighteen months, would be
necessary to enable Mr. Jonathan to shepherd the creation of a new constitution. This argument rests on the need for Nigeria to fashion a constitution that incorporates some of the important recommendations of the national
confab convoked by President Jonathan and
chaired by retired Chief Justice Idris Kutigi.
According to several of our sources, the Jonathan administration plans to contend that the task of writing a new constitution should be resolved before Nigeria is subjected to another potentially volatile general elections.
“We should not see this as a matter of Mr.
President trying to stay longer in power. The fact
of the matter is that we should address the
constitutional issues first before talking about
another election,” said a source who is a
confidant of Governor Elechi.
The source added that the sheer task of going
through the voluminous report submitted by the
national confab on August 21, 2014 would require “almost a year of hard work.” According to him, it would be politically suicidal for Nigeria to go through another election and transition on the basis of the current constitution “which most
Nigerians are dissatisfied with.” He added: “If
elections happen next year and President
Jonathan wins, he may no longer feel the need to push for constitutional reforms. If another person wins, then that new president may not make a new constitution a priority. That means that this country will be back to square one. It will also mean that all the efforts we made in the confab would be in vain.”
President Jonathan’s other argument for tenure
elongation is that he needs about two years more In office to stabilize Nigeria by finally handling the security crisis posed by Boko Haram. A few sources disclosed that the president intends to make a strong case to potential critics in the US and European Union that the situation in Nigeria’s northeast zone is so dangerous that it would be impossible to hold elections in the area. He would pledge to devote the extra time in office to a decisive plan aimed at dislodging Boko Haram from all parts of Nigeria. Mr. Jonathan is expected to cite the recent string of successes by the Nigerian military against insurgents as proof that
he has a formula for defeating Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s political calendar sets aside next
February 2015 for the next set of elections, but
President Jonathan has not formally declared his
intention to run. Our investigations revealed that the president’s silence is deliberate, part of his strategy for pursuing tenure elongation. Mr.
Jonathan is reluctant to ratchet up the rhetoric of elections because he wants more time to quietly fine-tune and sell the option of a two-year tenure elongation.
Opponents of any form of tenure elongation
contend that President Jonathan wants to avoid
an election because he is scared of losing to the
opposition. “He has had six years to fix the
security problems and also advance a new
constitution, but failed,” said an Abuja-based
activist. The activist added; “President Jonathan
may also be afraid of a possible constitutional
crisis. The Nigerian constitution forbids anyone
running more than two terms in office. The
president has been sworn in twice already, once
to complete the tenure of [the] late President
Umaru Yar’Adua and then as substantive
president in 2011. There is likely to be a legal
challenge seeking clarification on whether he can run and possibly rule Nigeria again.”
A source at the Presidency stated that Mr.
Jonathan had sounded out some members of
national confab about the idea of the body
declaring that he should be given extra time to
complete a constitutional process, but the
response was not encouraging. “Those who were
consulted in the confab felt that any talk of
elongation would have divided the confab. So
they asked us to try alternative ways.” Our
investigation also revealed that the Presidency
considered the idea of using the Boko Haram
insurgency as a pretext to declare a state of war,
thereby shelving elections. That plan also fell
apart.
Mr. Jonathan’s current approach is to send his
associates to approach potentially sympathetic
senators and members of the House of
Representatives with the proposal of a new
constitution as justification for tenure elongation.
Our investigation disclosed that the latest
approach has met with mixed reactions.
Several senators who spoke anonymously with
SaharaReporters disclosed that Mr. Jonathan’s
emissaries spoke about postponing the elections
for two years in the interest of “Nigeria’s unity.”
The sources said legislators who are most likely to lose elections seemed enthusiastic about the
prospect of elongation. Two senators also
admitted that the president’s associates are likely to win over some legislators because of their ability to offer hefty sums to bribe those willing to support the elongation agenda.
A political adviser to former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar said he had heard speculations about
extending the tenure, but said he had no
independent confirmation of it. However, he
stated that Mr. Jonathan must be scared of
running in an election in which most northern
voters will be against him along with a significant
number of southerners voters disenchanted by
the president’s non-performance.
He said that Mr. Jonathan’s electoral fortunes
would be precarious in all the northern states
because of the divisive nature of the president’s
governance style.
“Apart from Benue and Plateau states and a
section of Southern Kaduna Christians, the
president has little chance of campaigning let
alone winning in the north,” said one of the critics of tenure elongation.
A strong opposition also looms in the southwest,
except in Ondo state where Governor Olusegun
Mimiko might help sway voters. But Mr. Mimiko’s
electoral boost may have fizzled with the
governor’s mismanagement of state resources
that has led to the non-payment of workers
salaries for at least four months.
Mr. Jonathan will likely win easily in the five
eastern states as well as the Niger Delta zone, but votes from the two areas would be insufficient to steer him back to Aso Rock. Besides, the enthusiastic welcome received in Imo State over the weekend by Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state and opposition presidential aspirant, suggest that some parts of the southeast may not wholly back Mr. Jonathan.
The president also faces considerable political
threat in Rivers State. Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s opposition to Jonathan’s candidacy suggests that the electoral victory figures cannot simply be written.
Several political sources, activists and pundits
who spoke to us predicted that Mr. Jonathan’s
tenure elongation plan would be doomed in the
same way that other such plans, hatched by
retired General Ibrahim Babangida, late
maximum dictator, Sanni Abacha and former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, also collapsed.

k

Hmmm some facts to think about. Most details appear to be guess work, but that is Journalism, forcing out the truth or get some sort of commitment from the Presidency spokesperson.

Sharia reporters at it again. Trying hard to cause confusion since time immemorial.

The president should contest with the comstitution then supervise the drafting of a new constitution in his second term,i don't think anything nor anyone would stop him from doing that..

What makes me think that there might be some truth in the write up is that the President might be afraid to face the general elections next year, reason is that a President that is afraid to face party primaries may not be favourably disposed to facing general elections!

@OP how long did it take you to compose this