Jonathan won’t contest in 2019, says Babatope

Semiu Salami — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:40:24 +0000

A member, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan will not run for the presidency in 2019.

He explained that the party would shop for a strong Hausa/Fulani candidate to run against the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019.

Babatope, who is also a member of the party’s elders’ caucus, described the outgoing President as a leader, who had done his best in uplifting the nation’s democracy, adding that Nigeria would forever remember Jonathan as a committed leader who kept the nation as one despite several challenges.

He said he was sure that the President would not seek to contest the 2019 presidential election although “the people of the South-South have the right to present a candidate for the election, I’m sure the President will not contest; He will lead us to against the All Progressives Congress.”

“The President has set himself apart as a great Nigerian leader, who is committed to seeing Nigeria blossom into a great democracy. He has laid a solid foundation for the nation’s democracy and he would forever be remembered.”

“The President will not contest the 2019 presidential election. The PDP will look for a strong Hausa/Fulani presidential candidate to contest against Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

“We have a strong presence in the South-South, South-East and we have two governors in the South-West. We are going to slug it out together in the North in 2019. We are going to flush out the APC in 2019 because we are going to correct our mistakes and take back the central government.”

The former Minister of Transport said PDP’s National Executive Council, the BoT and Elders’ Caucus would meet soon in Abuja to assess the outcome of the general elections.

“We are going to restructure our party. The National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, will convene a meeting in two weeks’ time when we will objectively discuss the last elections.

“Apart from the grand conspiracy against our party by the powers that be in the elections, we are going to tackle the problem of imposition, which was a great area of mistake on our side. Crises were recorded across the states over imposition. We are going to guard against this. The APC will, naturally, make its own mistakes and we will capitalise on these.

“It is given in politics that mistakes would occur among the ruling party. We will all see when this begins to happen. We are watching and waiting.”

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FG to invests N1.3trn to transform varsities in 6yrs – Wike

Semiu Salami — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:57:06 +0000

The supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday said the Federal Government was committed to investing N1.3 trillion in public universities in the next six years, to transform the institutions.

Wike who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while responding to the suspension of the six months old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said part of the fund would be used to revitalise infrastructure in public universities to transform them into international centres of excellence.

The minister restated the federal government’s commitment to the implementation of all the resolution reached with the ASUU.

According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, more than any other previous administrations, has invested heavily in the revival of basic and tertiary education in the country.

He said this was because it considered education as a veritable source of empowering less privileged Nigerians to achieve their life ambitions.

He disclosed that that the government had inaugurated an Implementation Monitoring Committee on the agreement under the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation .

The minister said that the committee’s membership consisted of ASUU, SSANU, Committee of Vice- Chancellors, and Committee of Pro-Chancellors and other stakeholders, to ensure proper implementation of the agreement.

Wike said the Federal Government was also working towards reviving infrastructure in federal polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.

According to him, the administration has established Needs Assessment Committees to determine areas of priority and funding required to revive the tertiary institutions.

He commended ASUU for calling off the strike and appreciated its role in ensuring that Nigerian universities were well-funded.

Wike also commended Nigerians for their understanding during the period of the strike.

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Jonathan won’t contest in 2019, says Babatope

FG to invests N1.3trn to transform varsities in 6yrs – Wike