With the political environment getting heated by the day, President Goodluck Jonathan says it is better for him to keep his 2015 ambition in the cooler for now until the appropriate time.
Fielding questions from a panel of journalists during a presidential media chat on Monday night; the President posited that there would be issues if he should declare his ambition now.
“I am a sitting President, if I tell Nigerians today that I am contesting, there will be issues. If I say I am no longer contesting, there will be issues.
“Already the political environment is hot, I will rather take time. At the appropriate time you will know”.
On the upcoming national conference, President Jonathan said the chairman, deputy chairman and secretary of the conference would be named on March 3rd so that they could start the process of putting in place necessary logistics ahead of the inauguration of the conference.
He however insisted that he would never preside over the disintegration of the country.
President Jonathan said, “Goodluck Jonathan cannot preside over the disintegration of Nigeria, definitely not. We say so because people, not too many people, raise certain issues that are worrisome. There is no President that will preside over the disintegration of his state.
“Nigeria, what we are because of our position and size, immediately you balkanize Nigeria into different states, we are gone, nobody will regard us. So, nobody will think about the disintegration of the country to be a subject matter for that discussion.
The centenary celebration has held us a little backward. Otherwise, by now, we would have moved a little forward.
“But our thinking is that on the 3rd of March, we will announce the name of the chairman, the deputy chairman and the secretary and of course, we will also engage the administrative staff that will work with them and they will start work for at least a week before we invite others to join. And then, I will formally inaugurate.
“If we follow that programme, you know, on the 3rd, we will announce the chairman, the deputy chairman, the secretary and we give them the administrative staff. They are the people that will work out details on how they will manage the people that will come in terms of hotel accommodation, logistics and so on. So, they need to start work at least a week before the people come”.
On the ongoing PDP rallies across the country, he had this to say “Even, if today I am not contesting election, I will make sure that l lead my party to victory.
“As a sitting President even if you finish serving your eight years tenure, you will still need to lead the party to victory”.
