Nigeria's national security adviser has resigned to run against President Goodluck Jonathan in the ruling party primaries next month, raising the stakes ahead of presidential elections in January. Skip related content
Related photos / videos
A party supporter holds a local newspaper with a photograph of Nigeria's President …More Enlarge photo
Aliyu Gusau submitted his resignation letter to Jonathan, which the president accepted, on Thursday and a day later informed him he intended to enter the presidential race, his spokesman Adebisi Adekunle said, confirming a Reuters story.
"I can confirm to you that the national security adviser has resigned," Adekunle said, adding Gusau intended to collect his presidential nomination form from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) offices on Monday.
Gusau's move means Jonathan -- who had been expected to travel to New York for the U.N. General Assembly late on Saturday but postponed the trip at the last minute -- will face a more challenging contest at the PDP primaries in mid-October.
Jonathan formally launched his campaign on Saturday with a rally in the capital Abuja attended by more than two thirds of the country's powerful state governors.
As the incumbent, he holds the strings of power and can be judged by voters on his performance so far, including helping to cement an amnesty in the oil-producing Niger Delta and more recently unveiling a blueprint to solve the chronic power shortages that plague Africa's most populous nation.
But although he is the front-runner, his bid is opposed by some in the ruling party because of an unwritten agreement that power should rotate between the north and south every two terms.
Jonathan inherited the presidency when president Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner, died this year during his first term, but he is a southerner and some in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) have said the next leader must be a northerner.
SINGLE NORTHERN CANDIDATE?
Gusau, a northerner, is a retired general who was also national security adviser to Yar'Adua's predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo. He remains a powerful figure in the ruling party.
He was the main contender alongside Yar'Adua to be the PDP nominee in the 2007 election, coming second in the primaries.
The PDP nominee has won all three presidential races since the end of military rule in 1999, making the outcome of past elections a foregone conclusion and bringing Nigeria close to being a one-party state.
But the presidential race this time is more contentious, with no consensus PDP candidate and no obvious "godfather" -- the powerful background figures who have in the past hand-picked the nominee -- holding sway over the party.
Other northerners including former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida and former vice president Atiku Abubakar are also seeking the PDP nomination.
But Babangida, who seized power in the OPEC member in August 1985 and ruled for nearly eight years, is a divisive figure. He was forced from power after cancelling an election generally regarded as fair, and this colours his political reputation.
Abubakar is a recent convert to the PDP. He switched to the ruling party after running unsuccessfully for president as the opposition Action Congress candidate in the last vote in 2007, and his critics dismiss him as an opportunist.
The threat to Jonathan from the northern factions depends on their ability to unite behind a single candidate, which analysts say will be difficult if Babangida, Abubakar, Gusau and others all try to push their campaigns to the finish line.
| Posted: at | |
TRENDING GISTS 
Lady Calls Out JAMB After Mysterious Overnight Change in Brother’s UTME Result
Ex-AUN Provost, Professor Yusuf Attahir Baba Loses Three Children in Devastating Car Crash
Football Star, Lionel Messi-Marriage Rumours Stir Online Frenzy As Divorce Speculations Grow
El-Rufai & Peter Obi Meet at Cambridge Conference, Sparking Political Speculation Ahead Of 2027 Elections
"How My Mother’s Lover Rap3d Me" — 12 Year Old Victim Narrates Ordeal