Abuja: Thousands of Nigerians gathered in Abuja yesterday to hear President Goodluck Jonathan proclaim his candidacy in January elections, likely to be the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule.
Jonathan, who has already said on his Facebook page that he will run in the election, may have all the advantages of incumbency but his bid faces resistance from some parts of the north and risks splitting the ruling party.
There has been an unspoken agreement in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) since Nigeria's return to democracy 11 years ago that power alternates every two terms between north and south, a rhythm which Jonathan's bid is set to disrupt.
Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta in the south, inherited the presidency when late president Umaru Yar'Adua, a northerner, died this year during his first term, and some PDP powerbrokers say the next leader must be a northerner.
The ruling party, which is due to hold primaries in mid-October, has recognised Jonathan's constitutional right to run and supporters say that since he was on a joint ticket with Yar'Adua, he can seek to serve out at least that second term.
"It is his intention to spend only four years, the remaining Yar'Adua term," Jonathan's campaign director Dalhatu Tafida told reporters on the eve of the rally in Abuja, but added that politics was not about individuals.
"For now we should give him four years and see how he performs and then decide whether he can continue," he said.
