Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has said he will not seek a second term in office if he wins elections scheduled for April.<\/p>\n
As the governing party candidate, he is the favourite even though some party officials have said he should not run.
\nHe is a southerner and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has a tradition of alternating power between north and south of the country.
\nUnder this unwritten rule, the PDP candidate should be from the north.
\nBut in January’s party primary, Mr Jonathan overwhelmingly defeated a northerner, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
\nLast year, the party’s powerful governors suggested that Mr Jonathan only seek one term as a compromise.
\nThe PDP candidate has won every poll since the end of military rule in 1999.
\nHowever, most of its victories have been marred by widespread fraud and violence.
\nMr Jonathan became leader after the death of elected President Umaru Yar’Adua in May 2010.
\nHe is the first president from Nigeria’s southern, oil-producing Niger Delta region.
\nMr Jonathan has promised to introduce electoral reforms, but correspondents say it will be difficult to implement radical changes before April.
\nThe main opposition candidates are former anti-corruption campaigner Nuhu Ribadu and Gen Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has said he will not seek a second term in office if he wins elections scheduled for April. As the governing party candidate, he is the favourite even though some party officials have said he should not run. He is a southerner and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has a tradition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n