Jonathan Has Constitutional Powers for Two Terms, Says Fasheun

Dr Frederick Fasheun

The founder of the O’odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Frederick Fasheun, Sunday said that President Goodluck Jonathan had a constitutional right to run for a second term in office.

Fasheun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly (SNPA) only recently acknowledged the right of Jonathan to seek two terms in office, as provided for in the constitution.

NAN reported that controversy had trailed the third conference of the SNPA held on May 20, at the Eko Hotels in Lagos.

The leaders at the conference had been accused of unanimously endorsing Jonathan for the 2015 presidential polls.

“The forum only acknowledged that the president has the constitutional rights to contest in 2015,” Fasheun told NAN in Lagos.

“The SNPA was attended by credible leaders of southern Nigeria. These leaders cannot but say the truth about the constitutional rights of the president.

“However, Nigerians also have a right to decide either to vote for him or not, but we cannot deny him his right.

“Every Nigerian has the right to his or her constitutional rights; the constitution is an unbiased arbiter,” he said.

Fasheun said the issue of Jonathan running in 2015 was a matter of the right granted to all Nigerian citizens by the constitution.

On the issue of zoning, Fasheun, who is also the Interim National Chairman for the resuscitation of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), said the party had not taken a position on that.

The UPN was founded by the late Pa Obafemi Awolowo in 1978.

He said though he personally disapproved of zoning, the UPN did not have an official position on it yet.