A controversy over mysterious posters for incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan, who hasn't said whether he will run in 2015, offers a window into the country's fractious politics.
Nigeria's presidential elections are over two years away. Elite
politics are already focusing in on them, however. Opposition parties
are negotiating a possible united front against President Goodluck
Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while the president's
intentions remain the stuff of political gossip. Up to now, Jonathan has refused to say whether he will run in 2015.
On New Year's Day 2013, however, campaign posters supporting a second term for Jonathan mysteriously appeared in many prominent places around Abuja. The president has denied any knowledge of them and reiterated his refusal to declare whether he will run again. His spokesmen are saying the posters are the work of those who want to embarrass the president. The Nigerian newspaper Leadership "gathered that the president is seriously upset with the development because he felt it was a ploy by mischief makers to make it look as if it was another shocker from the presidency, just the way the fuel subsidy episode emerged in January 2012."