2015: Jonathan’s men open bid near Chibok protesters

Some customised vehicles and giant electronic billboards mounted on wheels appeared yesterday in a strategic part of Abuja – the seat of power. Engraved on the boards are President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievements and his photograph as well as Vice President Namadi Sambo’s — beaming. The customised vehicles and electronic boards appeared at the Unity Fountain where the BringBackOurGirls campaigners were meeting in solidarity with the abducted Chibok girls. Over 200 girls were snatched off their dormitory by Boko Haram on April 15 in Chibok, Borno State. They are yet to be found —80 days after. The boards and the vehicles were rolled out by a group, Gejites (Goodluck Ebelo Jonathanites). It is, The Nation learnt, all in preparation for Dr. Jonathan’s announcement of his plan to run again. The new volunteer group is similar to Neighbour2Neigbour, one of the organisations that led the President’s campaign in 2011. The edges of the Unity Fountain were littered with the “expensive” boards — apparently to cast a shadow on the protest. Many condemned the pro-Jonathan campaign as “insensitive”. It was gathered that the Gejites platform will be used to rally Nigerians for Jonathan, who is likely o announce his political future this month of next month. A highly-placed source said: “I think the organisation is one of the pulse-feeling mechanisms put in place by Jonathan’s strategists. “They want to see how far they can go with the volunteer group before the President makes a declaration to run for second term in office.” Consultations are on and a committee headed by Vice President Namadi Sambo is working round the clock, a source said yesterday. “You should appreciate that the President and his team have to be strategic on the timing. The truth is that the desire for second term is taken for granted. The President is also bidding his time. “I think every other thing being equal, the President may declare either later this month or next month to lay all speculations to rest. This is the most practicable period because there will be primaries in October.” On the formation of Gejites, the source said: “It is a volunteer group and non-governmental organisation. It has nothing to do with the Presidency or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “You should go to the volunteers to tell you why they believe in Jonathan’s administration.” According to the 2015 poll guidelines released by INEC, all political parties are expected to hold primaries between October 2 and 11, 2014. A top INEC official said: “There is no timeline for the expression of interest or declaration of intent for any office. “This is purely internal affairs of political parties and we are not expected to dabble in this.” But the Gejites Volunteer group, which released its mission statement yesterday, said it was only taking after Chavistas and Obama Volunteers. The mission statement said: “We are a volunteer organisation set out to popularise the work and activities of government under President Gooodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), thus our derived name Gejites. “The philosophy and ideas behind Gejites is mirrored after the Chavistas, the highly successful campaign by the former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and the victorious Obama Volunteers. “The brain behind the Gejites volunteers is Chief Anthony Tosan Prest, a scion of the late Chief Arthur Prest, Nigeria’s first Federal Minister of Communications and one-time Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Court Of Saint James.” Some of the inscriptions on the wheel boards are “Goodluck Sambo” , “Goodluck Ebelo Jonathan will be the best loved President of Nigeria ever,” “Volunteer to be a GEJITE”, “Our administration has successfully rehabilitated and reopened the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation depot at Aba. The depot was closed for over 10 years,” “and Kaduna Refinery rehabilitated after 15 years.” Others are “No more police checkpoints all over the country,” “No more harassment from these checkpoints and blatant bribery by these officers,” and “We’ve commenced the implementation of the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP).[Nation]