Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulack, yesterday, inaugurated the South South Zonal office of Goodluck Support Group with a call on the President to contest for second term in office come 2015.

Gulak asked Nigerians to support the President in 2015 general elections due to his commitment to alleviating the people’s plight.

He said Jonathan had been able to revamp decayed infrastructure in the country within his few years in office.
Gulak, who is also the National Coordinator of GSG, urged Nigerians to join hands towards re-electing Jonathan as president of Nigeria for a second term, stressing that the president has the right to seek a second term in office.

“Nigeria belongs to all of us and it’s unfortunate that there are many people that want to bring down the country. The time has come for Nigerians to say enough is enough. Jonathan is the only Nigerian leader that has shown sincerity in addressing Nigerian problems.

“The resuscitation of the railways; privatisation of power sector, agriculture, establishment of almajiri schools, are some of the things credited to Mr. President.

“Opposition parties in other countries do their work of criticisms very well; but when it comes to national issues, they join hands towards making the country a better place for everybody.

“The opposition we see in Nigeria rather sponsors negative activities against the interest of the country and this is not the way it should be.”

Gulak called on politicians to play by the rules of the game of politics instead of being sentimental to the detriment of national growth.

In his remarks, former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Nsima Ekere, urged Nigerians to be patient with Jonathan, saying that the decayed infrastructure in the country today was due to neglect by previous administrations.

“The level of the decay in infrastructure has been so enormous that people do not seem to see the efforts Mr President is making to revamp the infrastructure.

“It is going to take time and investment by the government and the private investors to actually turn the power sector around.

“Some of the programmes and projects of Mr President will take a couple of years before you can actually see the effects on the country and the economy.

“The good thing is that we are now on track. That is why we must support Mr President to continue to lead this country to fulfill these aims.

“If we leave him or distort what we have today, it is going to take a long time to begin to plan.

“Somebody that will come again will begin to consider whether to start his own projects or continue with the existing ones.

“He has to bring in a new team and formulate new policies which may differ entirely from what we are having.
“But if we allow the President, he is going to consolidate on the gains of those projects he has already begun.”

President Goodluck Jonathan virtually went for the throat of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in Kano today, saying that the governor is more of a devil than him, even as he alleged that the governor embezzled money meant for Kano state delegates to the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of 2011 election.
The obviously angry President told the PDP supporters at the party’s unity rally to formally welcome the former Kano state governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau into the party, that governor Kwankwaso had never voted for him and Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo either at party level or at national level.
Apparently reacting to the statement allegedly credited to governor Kwankwaso that any Kano man that wears bowler hat, his personal trade-mark, is a devil and that he regretted voting for him, President Jonathan wondered how can he be devil when his government had done so much for the people of the state.
He stressed that Kwankwaso never liked him to win the Presidency of this country, adding that Kwankwaso ever walked out angrily at the PDP convention when it became clear that he was going to win the party presidential ticket.
President Jonathan said that Kwankwaso also pocketed undisclosed amount of money given to him to bring Kano state delegates to the National convention of the party, saying: “he never gave anyone kobo.”
According to the President who deliberately wore his traditional attire, matched with bowler hat at the rally, away from the white baban riga and ‘Aminu Kano’ cap worn by other party chieftains, while governor Kwankwaso cannot account for about N255.6 Billion which Kano state got from the federation account since 2011, his government had given Kano people so much in terms of socio-economic development.
They included 515,000 farmers that benefit ted from 76,000 metric tonnes of fertilizers, 58,000 improved seeds to farmers and 100,000 farmers that benefited from dry farming facilities all between 2012 and 2013. He added that as at 2013, the population of rice farmers grew from 1,500 to 66,000 even as he said that federal government under him has been supporting cotton, wheat and groundnut farmers in the state.
President Jonathan said that he had assured the Emir of Kano, Dr. Ado Bayero that his government would soon revive groundnut pyramid, asking: how can such person who has done so much for Kano be called devil?
President Jonathan described Shekarau as a true Nigerian political patriot who warmly received him in Kano thrice at the time he was Vice President on the PDP platform while Shekarau was then serving on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
The President who was apparently reacting to governor Kwanlwaso who refused to receive him in the state, made it clear that PDP would recover Kano state in 2015 “whether with red cap or bowler hat.”
On the terrorists’ attacks, especially at Nyanya bus park yesterday, President Jonathan vowed that terrorists will not stop his government from working, even as he reassured Nigerians and the international community that the country would soon get over it.
The President who once more expressed condolences to the families of victims yesterday’s bomb blast in Nyanya, which claimed no fewer than 71 lives and over 124 people injured said the target of terrorists is to halt governance.
He said that the terrorists have failed as his administration would not succumb to terror.
“Let me emphasized that terror will not stop Nigeria from moving. The terrorists and those sponsoring them will not stop this country from moving.
“This country will continue to move from strength to strength. We will continue to do our best to make sure we live peacefully in this country.”

National chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Hu’azu has vowed that they would take back the seats belonging to the party from those who recently defected to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC).
Mu’azu was referring to the governors of Kano, Kwara, Sokoto, Adamawa and Rivers states as well as members of the House of Representatives who won elections under the PDP but dumped it for APC.
The chairman, who spoke today at a unity rally in Kano to receive the former state governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau into the party said that the honourable thing those defetors would have done was to resign from the party and their elective seats to test their popularity in the new party.
He said that through legal processes, PDP would unseat the defectors who have since forfieted the right to hold on to the seats that belonged to PDP.
Mu’azu said that PDP is the only national and broad based party that accommodates all shades of Nigerians, adding that entering PDP is like entering religion.
He said that in PDP there is enough for everybody without discrimination or superiority by one group over others.
The governor of Kano state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who jettisoned PDP for APC refused formally receive President Jonathan to Kano, even as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who is still a member of the PDP caucus was conspicuously absent at the rally.
The new PDP chieftain, Ibrahim Shekarau, who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) described the unity rally to welcome him as “an occasion for democracy and an occasion for choice.”
He said that the return of key former members of defunct ANPP and later APC was to show solidarity and loyalty to the President Jonathan’s government, even as he promised to continue to be loyal to the party and his administration.
“Mr. President, I wish to pledge my commitment and that of other members who made the choice to join the PPD with me.”
He also pledged to work with the President in order to realise the objectives of the ruling party.
The former governor used the occasion to thank the President for the various federal projects that have been completed and ongoing in Kano state.
While promising to continue to re-dedicate his life to the service of the people, Shekarau called on the President to do more for the people of Kano state by way of empowerment, especially by boosting agriculture.