20100621
reuters

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Sunday it was too early to declare whether or not he will contest an election due by next April.

He said an announcement now would be a distraction and could hinder government efforts to improve power, security and governance in Africa's most populous nation.

A presidential bid by Jonathan in 2011 could be controversial because he is from the Christian south, and an unwritten agreement in the ruling party dictates the president serving the next term should be from the Muslim north.

"I will not be in a position to tell Nigerians presently whether I will run or whether I will not run because we have a political environment that gets too heated up when people are preparing for elections," Jonathan said in an interview broadcast by the Nigerian Television Authority.

Jonathan, previously the vice-president, took over the presidency after the death of his predecessor, Umaru Yar'Adua, a northern Muslim serving the first of what would have been expected to be two terms.

UNWRITTEN PDP AGREEMENT

The president declined to comment on whether the agreement within the People's Democratic Party (PDP) should be dropped, allowing him to run.

Some northerners have said they would support him, but his candidacy could risk splitting the PDP, which has won every election since the end of military rule just over a decade ago.