LAGOS
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has officially confirmed for the first time that he will seek reelection next year.
"President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will tomorrow, Thursday, pick up the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) nomination form for the 2015 presidential elections," spokesman Reuben Abati said in a statement on Wednesday.
Top bodies of the ruling PDP recently endorsed Jonathan as the party's consensus candidate for a second presidential term.
He is expected to be officially declared the consensus candidate at the PDP's convention in December.
The Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), a political movement, recently announced that it had gathered at least 27 million signatures calling on Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential race.
"President Jonathan thanks all Nigerians, members of the PDP, friends, associates, and all groups who in sincere appreciation of the achievements of the administration in the last four years have been urging him to seek a second term in office," said Abati.
"President Jonathan is greatly encouraged by the overwhelming outpouring of goodwill and support, as well as the confidence of the generality of Nigerians, in his ability to continue to transform the country for the good of its people," added the spokesman.
"The president is also grateful to all the persons, groups and communities who have sent donations and made pledges to assist him to pay the required 22 million naira [roughly $137,500] for the PDP presidential nomination fee and expression-of-interest form," said Abati.
The ruling party has reportedly turned down two aspirants who wanted to purchase presidential nomination forms – an action many have condemned as undemocratic.
The president, meanwhile, is fighting his own legal battle over his qualifications to run for the highest office.
The plaintiffs, who are also members of the ruling party, assert that Jonathan has already been sworn in twice and so cannot run again in 2015.
They claim that Jonathan, if allowed to run, will spend more than the eight years as president allowed under Nigerian law.
Jonathan, who had first served as vice-president, was sworn in as president on May 6, 2010 following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua.
He was elected president in 2011 and was again sworn in on May 29 of that year.
If he is reelected in February 2015, he will be Nigeria's first democratic leader to be sworn in as president three times.
It remains unclear whether the court will issue a ruling in the case before the upcoming election.
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