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Nigerian leader says no plan for interim gov't

Xinhua, February 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

It was treasonable for anybody to insinuate the possibility of an interim government in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday.

The Nigerian leader stated this in Abuja, the nation's capital city, at the Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).

Jonathan's reaction came barely few days after former President Olusegun Obasanjo allegations that the incumbent planned to manipulate the poll or cause crisis so he could remain in power.

But the president told his audience that he was convinced that Nigeria would remain stable, stressing that interim leadership was also unconstitutional.

"There is no way Goodluck Jonathan who was elected by the people with a clear mandate will now go and head an interim government without a mandate," he added.

According to him the only interim government that anybody can contemplate is a military government which of course will not be accepted, noting that the regional bloc will not accept it.

Nigeria's presidential spokesman Reuben Abati recently accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of plotting with others to instigate crisis and impose an interim government on the country.

This also came after Obasanjo accused Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan of planning to manipulate next month's polls.

Obasanjo, Nigeria's president between 1999 and 2007, has been hobnobbing with the opposition and criticizing the President on his alleged mishandling of the insurgency and occupation in the north.

Abati told reporters that President Jonathan had no such intention and would continue to give the greatest possible support to the Independent National Electoral Commission and other relevant federal agencies to ensure that the rescheduled elections were successfully conducted. Endi