Former Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang has knocked off a statement made by his counterpart, Babangida Aliyu, former governor of Niger State, claiming that all northern governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agreed to not support former President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015.
Jang has disassociated himself from the claim, saying he was not part of those who worked against the former president.
The New Diplomat had reported that Aliyu in a statement titled “Why We Opposed Jonathan’s Second Term Bid“, said northern governors of the PDP failed to support Jonathan because he broke an agreement he made with them.
Aliyu had stated that the former president broke the agreement by contesting for a second term.
Reacting, Jang in his statement titled, “Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu lied” signed by his Media Consultant, Mr. Garba Clinton, denied being part of the northern governors, adding that he was not part of that meeting.
Jang who is also a former chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, described Aliyu’s statement as an attempt to drag his reputation and that of other governors in the region into the mud.
According to Jang, it is obvious that Aliyu only supported President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 against the candidate of his party, Jonathan.
The former governor, however, warned his counterpart to desist from making defamatory statements against him and other patriotic members of the PDP.
According to him, there was no basis for him to not support Jonathan especially when the contest was against Buhari.
The statement reads, “For the avoidance of doubt, despite the perceived shortcomings of President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Jonah believed that president Jonathan was better equipped to rule Nigeria at the time, especially when his opponent was General Buhari who Jang did not hide his conviction concerning Buhari’s inabilities to resolve the Nation’s challenges and sensitivities of the issues at the moments.
“Unfortunately, Buhari won and we are all witnesses to the tales of woes.
“We view the statement of Dr. Aliyu as an attempt to drag the hard earn reputation of Jang into disrepute, having served Nigeria as a military officer, later a civilian Governor and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and discharged his responsibilities without blemish.”
It would be recalled that Plateau State was among the three northern states Jonathan won during the presidential election of 2015.
According to the official result of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Jonathan scored 549, 615 votes to defeat Buhari who scored 429,140 votes in the election.
