Nigeria's President Jonathan Wins Primary to Compete in Presidential Vote
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won the nomination of his People's Democratic Party to stand for re-election in April.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won the nomination of his People's Democratic Party to stand for re-election in April. Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan won the nomination of the ruling People’s Democratic Party to compete in a presidential election on April 9, easing concern that infighting in the party would destabilize the country.
Jonathan, 53, won more than 70 percent of votes cast by delegates at a party convention in Abuja, the capital, defeating former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, party spokesman Tunde Adeniran told reporters and delegates today in the city.
Jonathan, who had been vice president, succeeded Umaru Yar’Adua, a Muslim northerner who died on May 5, three years into his first term. He is a southern Christian, and his candidacy for a full term as president is contrary to an unwritten party rule to rotate the top office between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south for two four- year terms.
“It’s encouraging that he won by that big a margin,” said Celeste Fauconnier, Africa analyst at Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank, the investment banking arm of FirstRand Ltd. “It gives investors confidence that he got the backing from the Muslim north. Jonathan winning the election will be the most stable outcome for the political environment that the country can ask for.”
Stock Rally
The Nigeria Stock Exchange All Share Index has increased 10 percent this year, the best performer worldwide, according to Bloomberg data. The measure rose 1 percent to 27,282.90 at 12:18 p.m. in Lagos. The naira, which has dropped 2.4 percent against the dollar in the past six months, was little changed at 154.02.
Nigeria is the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports. Hague-based Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California, Total SA and Eni SpA run joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. that pump more than 90 percent of the West African nation’s oil.
The PDP has held power in the West African nation since a return to civilian rule in 1999. Moves to prevent Jonathan from seeking the PDP ticket failed on Jan. 10 when an Abuja court dismissed a lawsuit brought by opponents, saying he hasn’t broken any party rules.
“With great humility I accept the monumental responsibility as the candidate of this party,” Jonathan said in his acceptance speech. “Only a national party can lead us through the transformation Nigeria needs, and that is our party.”
Rival Plans
Jonathan’s nomination may prompt Abubakar and his supporters to leave the party and ally with a rival candidate, said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, managing director of DaMina Advisors LLP in New York.
Speaking before balloting commenced, Abubakar accused Jonathan of destroying the party by choosing to compete, saying an attempt to abandon the rotation of the presidency between the north and south is an “invitation to lawlessness” across the country.
Still, if he wins in April, Jonathan will be able to continue an amnesty for former militants in the oil-rich Niger River delta, a policy that has helped boost oil output by 27 percent since July 2009, he said in a statement on his campaign website. Attacks by rebels in the region cut Nigeria’s oil output by more than 28 percent between 2006 and 2009.
It would also guarantee plans to split up and sell the state-owned power utility, create a sovereign wealth fund and ensure the passage of a new petroleum industry law pending in parliament. Jonathan plans to sell generation and distribution companies created out of Power Holding Co. of Nigeria, and allow private companies to set up power plants, he said in August.
Blackouts are a daily occurrence in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where demand for electricity is almost double the current average supply of 3,000 megawatts.
To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Okolo in Abuja pokolo@bloomberg.net; Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net; Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg at nseria@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net.
Rate These Stories
Rate this Page