Aide: Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan to run for office in January election

Aide: Nigerian president to run in Jan. election

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will run in the January election to claim the office he took over after the death of the nation’s elected leader, an aide said Wednesday.

Special Assistant Bolaji Adebiyi told The Associated Press that Jonathan will seek the nomination of the People’s Democratic Party, the ruling party of Africa’s most populous nation.

Adebiyi said a message attributed to Jonathan posted on the social networking website Facebook saying he would run was genuine.

“I make no pretense that I have a magic wand that will solve all of Nigeria’s problems or that I am the most intelligent Nigerian — far from it,” Jonathan’s Facebook message reads. “What I do promise is this — If I am elected president in 2011, I will make a covenant with you, the Nigerian people, to always do right by you, to tell you the truth at all times, to carry you along and most importantly to listen to you, fellow citizens in our communities and also those of you on this page.”

Jonathan, a Christian from the country’s south, became president of the oil-rich nation after the May death of elected leader Umaru Yar’Adua, a Muslim from the north. An unwritten power-sharing agreement within Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party calls for the presidency to alternate between Nigeria’s Christian-dominated south and its Muslim north. However, Yar’Adua was still in his first four-year term and leaders in the north had expected him to serve two terms.

Jonathan’s candidacy in the 2011 election could split northern and southern leaders in the ruling party, which has the political muscle necessary to manipulate Nigeria’s unruly and corrupt electoral system.

Former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida and former vice president Atiku Abubakar both have said they want to contest the election as the ruling party’s candidate.

Associated Press Writer Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria.