LAGOS—The Southern Union Coalition Movement has urged elder statesman, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, to leave President Goodluck Jonathan alone and stop overheating the polity.

Speaking to Vanguard in Lagos, Coordinator of the group, Chief Mike Igbokwe, said as a respected Nigerian, the Northern leader should have known that the Jonathan/Sambo ticket come 2011 had gone beyond ethnic divide.

“It is really worrisome that at this stage of our nationhood, a seasoned politician like Adamu Ciroma is still playing ethnic, divisive politics.
Insinuating that the North will use every means available to scuttle Jonathan’s ambition if he dares to run for 2011 presidential election against the so-called zoning arrangement shows his unfairness to the president and Nigerians,” the group said.

The group declared that President Jonathan had not breached any known law of Nigeria by declaring interest to contest the presidency in 2011. It said it was the “divine joint ticket of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Jonathan that produced the Jonathan/Sambo ticket,” warning that no blackmail will deter Nigerians from supporting the presidential ambition of Jonathan which it said is “divine”.

“We are of the view that Mallam Adamu Ciroma is out to soil the hard-earned reputation of the president by seeking cheap popularity, using religious and ethnic sentiments to fool Nigerians who are tired of old breed politicians like Ciroma”.