But if you look at it, I call unreasonable the demand by the extremists from the South-South that they want 100 per cent resource control, whatever that means. I mean, it doesn’t make sense to believe that these people want to be part of the Nigerian state or they want some other arrangement. So, we feel that the northern delegates have been very generous indeed to maintain the status quo. If they had gone to their various constituencies, the move now would have been to insist on them bringing this percentage down.

But for them to have agreed that we should maintain the status quo, fine; but then the on-shore, off-shore dichotomy has to be abrogated because the offshore oil belongs to the Nigerian state.

Should Jonathan decide to contest the 2015 election against your wish for a northern president, what do northern elders intend to do? 

Well, first let’s look at the constitutional rights of Nigerians. It is the constitutional right of Nigerians to seek any office, from councilor to the president, provided all the rules and guidelines are satisfied. Assuming that Jonathan is not even president, he has every right to come forward and offer himself to seek for the office of the president. But in his case, he has been vice-president, and president now for six years. He probably has assessed himself as having done well to still want to continue to serve another four years. That is his right, but then it is also the right of other Nigerians to say no for a number of reasons.

One reason could be, you have not done well and therefore we’ll not vote for you. And this is not exclusive to the North or to any part of Nigeria.The critics are increasing in terms of performance and so on.

The other issue that is likely to arise will be legal. The Constitution of Nigeria that I’ve been privileged to be part of says that the President of Nigeria will only be president consecutively for a period of eight years. If Jonathan decides to contest, it will mean that he would have spent 12 years at the end of his tenure in 2019. Certainly, the court will decide on this matter. And we are ready. The constitution say the president can only be sworn in twice; anything outside this will amount to breaching the constitution. Secondly, if he decides to force himself on Nigerians, the North obviously will decide who to vote. We have the political power to choose our leaders and we will surely do that. We had an agreement and since he has breached it, the polls will decide.