LAGOS SEPTEMBER 30TH (URHOBOTODAY)-President Goodluck Jonathan has denied ever signing a document to serve the nation as a President for a single term.
He, however, affirmed that his agreement to serve for a single term as president was premised on the belief that his proposal for a single seven-year term for the presidency would sail through.
The President, who spoke on Sunday night on Media Chat, a live television and radio programme, offered the explanation owing to the controversy surrounding whether he will seek re-election in 2015 or not.
Jonathan said before he got into office, he had verbally discussed the idea of a single seven-year term and was hoping it would sail through.
He said it was based on this that he thought he would be in office for just a single term of seven years.
He told Nigerians and the rest of the world on the programme: “I didn’t sign any agreement to serve for a single term. If I had signed any agreement, they would have shown you. They should show you the agreement. I only talked about single term arrangement because I was proposing seven-year tenure and thought it could materialise. Not that Jonathan will serve for a single term of four years.”
The President, however, was still not categorical about his position on seeking re-election in 2015.
On the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Jonathan said it has been politicized.
Urging the lecturers to return to work, Jonathan said: “In the past, they did not go this far when strikes were called off.
“But now, politics has gone into everything.”
Jonathan said his administration has done everything possible to ensure the strike was called off.
These, according to him, included making several concessions to the lecturers and taking steps to remedy the problems in the universities.
He added: “Throughout this time, no government has taken inventory of all the problems in federal and state universities.
“We said this must change.
“But it cannot change overnight.
“So for ASUU to go on strike over infrastructure, they need to understand that we are serious about intervening starting with N100 billion