* It’s a lie, ex-gov Jonah Jang counters
The former governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has revealed how the 19 northern governors rose against former President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid in 2015, saying it was because of the perceived threat his victory would pose to the North.
Aliyu said in Minna that the northern governors felt at the time that their part of the country stood in a disadvantaged position and would be shortchanged if Jonathan won re-election.
He claimed that Jonathan had earlier reached an agreement with the north to complete what was left of the tenure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and then run for only one term.
He said the ex-president’s insistence on going for another term in 2015 was against the agreement he had with the northern governors.
“Following the sudden passage of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on May 5, 2010, the leadership of the then governing Peoples Democratic Party along with the state governors under the flagship of the party had series of meetings on the presidency and the future of our great party,” he said.
Jonah Jang 
Babangida Aliyu
“All the governors in the north under the PDP supported the then Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to complete the remaining years of Yar’Adua’s tenure and to contest the next presidential election as a sole candidate of our great party.
Aliyu added that as the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum then, it was his responsibility to tell the people about the stand of the governors.
Aliyu’s said: “As Chairman of the 19 Northern States Governors Forum, the task was on my shoulders to voice out the position of the North which stood disadvantaged by the demise of Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua and the insistence that Jonathan should run for the office of president in 2015.
“We acted in good spirit and argued our points based on principle and on the subsisting agreement we had with Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. That agreement was written and accepted by all.”
However, a former governor and Aliyu’s counterpart in Plateau State, Jonah Jang, described Aliyu’s claim as a lie.
Jang said he was not part of the northern conspiracy against Jonathan’s reelection bid in 2015.
He said he supported Jonathan knowing he is better equipped to govern Nigerian than Muhammadu Buhari.
Jang, in a statement by his Media Consultant Clinton Garuba, said: “The attention of the immediate past governor of Plateau State, Senator Dr. Jonah David Jang has just be drawn to a statement credited to the past governor of Niger State where he alleged that the then 19 states Northern governors met, deliberated and all decided not to support the re-election of the then President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and wish to state categorically that Senator Dr. Jonah Jang was not part of that meeting.
“Senator Jang is not one who speaks from both sides of his mouth rather he speaks and supports only what he believes, little wonder that Plateau was won by President Jonathan in the 2015 general elections, largely due to the hard work of the then Governor.
“For emphasis sake, there was no basis for Dr. Jang not to have supported Dr. Jonathan especially when the contest was against General Buhari.”