President Goodluck Jonathan is constitutionally free to re-contest in 2015, if he wishes, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, member, PDP Board of Trustee, has said.
Babatope made this known on Thursday while speaking with journalists at the residence of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Ikenne-Remo in Ogun.
The former minister of transport said that the argument in some quarters that the Jonathan was in his second term and could not re-contest in 2015 was wrong.
He said: “I want to talk as a lawyer and as Nigerian that within the constitution, the president is fully entitled to re-contest in 2015, if he is willing to do so.
“He is an adult, so he can decide for himself.
“What Jonathan did, when he was Vice President and later President before he was democratically elected was to finish up late President Umaru Yar’dua’s tenure and that cannot be termed as his first term. ”
“The argument that the President is in his second term is wrong. I am telling you categorically that as a lawyer, he is in his first term and not second term.
“The President just started his first term and if he is willing to re-contest nobody will say it is unconstitutional because the law permits it. (NAN)
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