By Lawrence Olaoye
Abia state governor and Chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum, Theodore Orji, yesterday disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan will continue with his second term presidential ambition regardless of the advice offered by the Kaduna based Islamic cleric, Mohammed Gumi not to contest in the interest of unity in the country.
Orji gave the indication in a chat with newsmen after the meeting of the President Goodluck Jonathan Declaration Committee in the Villa yesterday.
Asked whether the President is considering the advice offered by the fiery Islamic cleric, Orji said “Well, every person can say anything. You can advise somebody, it is left for that person to take your advice or not. That is a personal advice, but the general advice is for the president to contest.”
Commenting on the outcome of the meeting of the committee, its Chairman, Dr. Bello Halliru Mohammed, said for effective coordination of the activities of the panel, they resolved to dissolve into sub-committees.
The sub-committees are to submit their reports latest by next week and thereafter; the venue of Jonathan’s declaration could be decided.
He said, “We have set up subcommittees to do the various activities of the arrangement. We will get the copies of the subcommittees to the secretariat. The subcommittees will now make their programmes based on their terms of reference. They will get the budget and then we will start rolling.”
On the possible venue for the declaration, Mohammed said, “We are considering a number of venues. The nature of the organisation will determine the venue, because there are events that are solemn that could be done in a room like a meeting; there are events that require razzmatazz that only could be done in an arena.
“We haven’t decided the format yet. It is one of the jobs of the subcommittees to decide the format and the procedure. When that is done, we will decide the appropriate venue for that kind of arrangement.”
On the exact time the venue would be disclosed, he said, “That one could be done as early as next week. When they decide on their format, that is when we have the venue of the event, because each event determines its own venue.”
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