The Presidency has denied claims and allegations that President Goodluck Jonathan has endorsed the beginning of campaign for 2015 elections.<\/p>\n
This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati.<\/p>\n
Specifically, Abati refuted a front page news report that a 21-member committee had been set up for Jonathan\u2019s Second Term Bid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is totally untrue and without any basis in reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he has truthfully declared on several occasions, President Jonathan has not yet taken a decision on whether or not he will seek re-election in 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has, therefore, not mandated any individual, committee or organisation to start working on his behalf for the 2015 elections.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Abati said the president\u2019s stated wish to be left alone to focus on delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation without unnecessary distractions should be respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical jobbers and their collaborators in the media should stop heating up the polity with baseless speculations and falsehoods revolving around imaginary plans and schemes by the Presidency for the 2015 elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Abati said the Presidency had also observed an emerging trend whereby political opportunists were using the president\u2019s name to promote themselves and their ambitions.<\/p>\n
He said some unscrupulous persons were printing 2015 campaign posters with President Jonathan\u2019s photograph when INEC had yet to announce the beginning of campaigns.<\/p>\n
The special adviser cited an advertorial suggesting that the president had endorsed a particular candidate for Anambra gubernatorial election.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the benefit of the unwary, the Presidency emphatically states that President Jonathan has not endorsed any candidate for any position whatsoever ahead of the 2015 general elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President has neither commissioned persons to start campaigns for his own candidature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Abati warned all 2015 political office seekers, and their sponsors, friends or collaborators, to desist from \u201cunconscionable exploitation of the president\u2019s name in the service antics of self-aggrandisement, promotion and positioning\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Presidency has denied claims and allegations that President Goodluck Jonathan has endorsed the beginning of campaign for 2015 elections. This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n