The Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Prof. Rufai Alkali, says President Goodluck Jonathan cannot refuse the people’s clamour for him to contest election in 2015.

Alkali said this in Abuja on Tuesday at a news conference.

According to him, as a patriotic citizen, Jonathan has the clout to take the country to the next level with his transformation agenda.

“With more than 8,000 groups calling on Mr President to run, I do not think he will say no because he is also a patriotic citizen; he is a leader and he is passionate about making a difference in this country. There’s no how Nigerians will call on him to step forward and lead and he’ll say no. I believe he’s going to do that but he’s just waiting for the appropriate time,’’ he said.

He also said the clamour did not start with the rally but Nigerians had in the past one or two years, been calling on Jonthan to run for second term, but should be patient.

The president’s aide thanked the more than 7,000 Goodluck S pport Groups (GSG) that were in Abuja recently “for using their private resources to ensure that the rally was a huge success; the way and manner they conducted themselves is laudable”.

“The GSGs adopted a communiqué which listed clearly that the president had performed very well; that the transformation agenda should continue beyond 2015, and that the president should stay focused and contest the 2015 presidential election.

“They also said that the PDP should nominate the president as a consensus candidate. That as leaders and representatives of the more than 7,000 groups with more than 80 million memberships, they affirmed loyalty and unqualified support and undertake to deliver him during the forthcoming election.’’

Alkali said barely 24 hours after the rally, the PDP national leadership, board of trustees and executives met and agreed that Jonathan should continue with the transformation agenda.

He, however, dismissed rumours that the 2015 general elections would be postponed.“I’m just hearing about that here. There are always anti-democratic forces in the country that are not happy with the progress the country is making; not happy with what government or the president is doing; always looking for an opportunity to throw spanner in the wheel of progress.

“Otherwise everybody knows the consequences involved in postponing an election. To postpone an election, there are so many stages; we don’t pray for that,” Alkali said.