Nigeria: No early campaigns for politicians

With less than a year in office for Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and state governors, some politicians have started to position themselves ahead of the next elections in 2015.

This development, observers warn, would not only distract those in government but also keeps the county on election mode.

Jonathan condemned the politicians at the 58th emergency meeting of his ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) party on Monday.

“A situation whereby a governor has not even stayed for a year, the President has not stayed for a year, you start harassing people for 2015 is another way of saying everything is election,” he charged, “There must be time to work.”

Jonathan warned those interested in running for political office in 2015 to put their campaigns on hold and threatened to fire those who defied the directive.

“At the federal level, if you are holding a political office and I notice that you are involved in meetings for the 2015 election, I will ask you to leave and go and hold your meetings, because that meeting is too early and government must not be distracted,” he said.

“Nigerians are interested on what we put on the ground for them, not how many elections we conduct and win.”

But Jonathan also called for free and fair polls as the 2015 plebiscite beckons.

Since its return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has made some progress on strengthening government institutions and fighting corruption engendered by its oil wealth.

But political tug of wars, the fragile federal system, and continued clashes caused by pervasive ethnic and religious tensions raise questions about the about the future of democracy in one Africa’s leading economies.