Jonathan blasts Aliyu, says he had no agreement with northern PDP governors

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the claim by former governor of Niger state, Babangida Aliyu that northern governors worked against his second term bid in 2015 because he reneged on the agreement he had with them.

Aliyu had in a statement on Friday said Jonathan had an agreement with northern governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to complete the late President Umaru Yar’adua’s administration and a term of four years after that.

He added that the governors rose against the ex-president when he was pushing for a second term bid.

Aliyu’s claim subsequently triggered reactions as former governor of Plateau state, Jonah Jang debunked the claim, saying he was not among the northern PDP governors that worked against Jonathan.

Former Gov of Plateau State, Jonah Jang says ex-governor of Niger state, Babangida Aliyu lied about the reason why northern governors worked against Goodluck Jonathan's reelection in 2015. (Information Nigeria) Pulse Nigeria

Reacting to the claim, Reno Omokri, a former aide to Jonathan in a statement on behalf of his former principal said there was no agreement whether oral or written between Jonathan and PDP northern governors.

In the statement, Jonathan challenged Aliyu to name people that witnessed the agreement.

Describing the ex-governor as a pathetic fellow, the ex-president wondered why he lost to Muhammadu Buhari in Niger state in 2011, if the claim by Aliyu, who was the governor of the state was true.

The statement reads in part; “Babangida Aliyu is a pathetic fellow. He has become a broken record and, sadly, he feels that is the only way to remain relevant. Let me break his claim down for you in a way that it will be so crystal clear that he is lying,” the statement said.

“There was no such agreement, whether written or oral. Since he says it was written, then let Mr. Babangida Aliyu produce it. If he changes his statement and says it was not written after all, but actually verbal, then I challenge him to name witnesses.

“Mr Aliyu says the agreement the northern governors had with former President Jonathan was for him to finish off President Yar’Adua’s first term between May 6, 2010 and May 29, 2011, and then contest for only one term between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2015.

“If this is true, then how come former President Jonathan lost the votes of Niger State at the Peoples Democratic Party presidential primary of January 13, 2011?

“How come, also, that former President Jonathan lost the actual presidential election, which held on April 16, 2011 to the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Muhammadu Buhari, in Niger State?

“General Muhammadu polled 652,574 votes to then President Jonathan’s 321,429 in Niger State in 2011. He got more than twice the number of votes secured by former President Jonathan.

“So, even if we want to say for argument’s sake that there was such an agreement, of which there was no such agreement, wouldn’t Governor Babangida Aliyu have been expected to have kept to his side of the bargain?”