IBB ,Ciroma, can not stop Jonathan in 2015 – Presidency

The Presidency on Sunday said prominent northern leaders, including Alhaji Adamu Ciroma and a former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, could not affect the chances of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general elections if he decided to contest. Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, said this in a interview with a correspondent. Gulak was giving an answer to a media report that northern politicians had create a committee whose membership included Ciroma and Babangida to increase the move by the seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors to become listed on the opposition All Progressive Congress. He said it had been on record that the President won the 2011 presidential election without the support of the named northern politicians. The presidential aide said the latest move, if true, could not therefore affect Jonathan's chances in the 2015 election. “I am not aware of the establishing of such a committee. What I could let you know however is that if you recall, the individuals whose names you simply mentioned did not support President Jonathan in 2011 and that did not stop him from winning. And this latest move too cannot stop him if he decided to contest in 2015,” he said. Gulak denied the claim by Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger Declare that the Presidency had bribed 400 northerners to aid Jonathan in 2015.