A source close to Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan said on Thursday the leader
of Africa’s most populous country has decided to
run for re-election in February.
Jonathan met with top officials from the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and thanked
them for their unanimous endorsement as the
party’s presidential candidate, the source said.
“The president told them he has accepted the
offer and assured them that he would pick the
nomination form before the deadline expired next
week,” said the source.
Jonathan’s formal re-election announcement will
be made at a public event between November 7
and November 15, according to the presidential
aide.
The news was widely expected, especially after
PDP state governors gave Jonathan their backing
in September.
Jonathan is a Christian from the southern oil-
producing Niger Delta region, and had faced calls
to stand down in favour of a northern Muslim.
The PDP has an unwritten rule that calls for
rotational power aimed at appeasing voters
across the religiously divided country.
But Jonathan, 56, outmanoeuvred his rivals,
publicly winning the backing of the northern PDP
stalwarts thought to have opposed his
nomination.
His job performance has been widely criticised,
especially over his handling of the brutal Boko
Haram uprising.
Analysts also say he has not done nearly enough
to curb galloping corruption, including in Nigeria’s
oil sector, which is the largest in Africa.
Jonathan will face an emboldened opposition
under the banner of a new party, the All
Progressives Congress, a coalition which groups
all of Nigeria’s leading opposition groups.
But experts say the president’s strongest asset on
election day could be his status as the incumbent
in a country where the ruling party has a track
record of using vast public resources for political
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