Jonathan’s Eligibilty: Kwankwaso, Others Should Better Shut Up, Northern Group Warns

As President Goodluck Jonathan’s eligibility to contest the 2015 presidential elections takes centre stage in national discourse, a northern group in Kaduna on Sunday asked those in the region using the issue as a campaign tool to stop overheating the polity and allow the court to decide the president’s fate.
The group, known as Arewa Peoples Patriotic Front, while reacting to a statement credited to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State on the eligibility of the president to contest the 2015 election, said the governor was not competent to determine the eligibility of Jonathan.
The group however noted that Jonathan was qualified to seek a second term in office.
Kwankwaso had last week alleged that President Jonathan’s second term ambition was akin to a ‘third term’, which he said would be resisted by well-meaning Nigerians when the time comes.

In a statement by its Chairman and Secretary, Mordecai Ibrahim and Sam Otitolaye respectively, the APPFasked Kwankwaso and other critics of President Jonathan in the North not to distract him from carrying out his official duties.
The statement read, “On whether President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest the 2015 election, since Kwankwaso is not a lawyer and is also not ready to go to court for the interpretation of the constitution on the matter, he should better shut up.
“We have a constitution and the courts are there to perform their constitutional functions of interpretation and adjudication. Nigerians should therefore be spared these ‘mango tree’ discussions’”.