**2015 ELECTION** North Needs 4 Years To Groom Jonathan’s Replacement – Mohammed Abba-Gana.

**Allowing Jonathan another four years will not take anything away from the North.
**North has produced 8 or 9 former heads of state of this country and it did not take away the poverty from the North.

Elder statesman and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mohammed Abba-Gana, has dismissed assertions of a united northern opposition against President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said Prof. Ango Abdullahi and the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, do not speak for all northern elders.


Abba-Gana, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BoT, said the North presently would need at least four years to search for a suitable presidential material that could unify the north, adding that after producing nine of the country’s leaders, the North should give other sections a break.


Abba-Gana spoke as Senator Emmanuel Bwacha from Taraba State, also dissociated northern minorities from the clamour for power shift back to the north.
The two spoke at two different interactions with newsmen in Lagos.

Abba-Gana also endorsed the proposal for President Jonathan to be offered the right of first refusal to the PDP presidential ticket in 2015.
He said the proposal was logical on the basis of what he claimed as the achievements of the president.
Abba-Gana also dismissed the newly merged All Progressives Congress, APC, as a hurricane warning for PDP, adding, however, that it will blow over without much damage.
He said: “The North is not against Jonathan because there are several well respected northern leaders who are supporting him.

“The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, led by Prof. Ango Abdullahi, is just an interest group which is pursuing what I see as their own view of Northern interest. But there are other groups which are against them in the same region.”
“Some people in the North want the presidency to come back to the region in 2015, but at the same time, others are saying that there is nothing wrong in allowing Jonathan to complete his eight years for fairness.
“Allowing Jonathan another four years will not take anything away from the North.
“Mind you, the region has produced about eight or nine former heads of state of this country and it did not take away the poverty from the North.”

“Political parties are the only recognised institution through which one can present oneself for an election and not through non-governmental organisations like NEF or Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF. So, Ango Abdullahi and his group cannot organize any primary to nominate a candidate for the polls.”

Giving his endorsement of the Anenih proposal for Jonathan to be offered the right of first refusal to the PDP ticket, he said:
“This is a democracy, so the PDP as a party will not suppress the aspiration of anyone. But we should realise that the PDP has a sitting president and if Jonathan says that he wants to seek for a second term, there is no way the party will say no.
“If the President says he will like to seek another term, most of us will support him, because it would be very unwise even for the PDP itself to bring out another person while Jonathan is still sitting in the Aso Villa. How will you force him to support the new candidate?” - vanguard.