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From former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has come a word of advice for the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan: Do not contest for the presidency in 2011.
Sources said Obasanjo offered the advice based on reports that some close aides of the Acting President have been mounting pressure on him to be a part of the 2011 elections as a presidential candidate.
Added to this was the fact that Jonathan did not give a clear cut answer to whether he would contest or not when he was asked the question on a Cable News Network (CNN) programme anchored by Christiana Amanpour.
It was gathered that Obasanjo told Jonathan that rather than allow his candidacy to generate more tension, as it has been doing already, he should opt to be the running mate of any Northerner who emerges the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Based on an unwritten agreement, the PDP, on which platform Jonathan and President Umaru Yar’Adua were elected, has zoned the presidency to the North for eight years, beginning from 2007.
According to our source, Obasanjo was not specific in the choice of the candidate Jonathan should work with.
The source hinted that the new plan will make Jonathan continue as the vice-president till 2015 when the presidency will then return to the South, a time it is believed the Acting President should wait for.
Obasanjo reportedly told Jonathan in a telephone conversation that it is only then that the Acting President could be sure of a bloc vote from the North for his ambition.
But it could not be confirmed if Jonathan has agreed to the plan though he hinted in the CNN interview that he could continue as the vice-president in 2011.
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