20100903
africanews

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan may not yet have declared whether he will run in elections due in January, but a growing number of his supporters are actively campaigning on his behalf.

Jonathan received members of a newly-formed coalition of more than 30 minor parties late on Thursday, grouped under the banner the Grand Coalition of Political Parties (GCPP), who told him they were ready to work to support his campaign.

"The president assured them that if he decides to seek re-election, they and their parties will be invited to play an important role in his national campaign," the presidency said in a statement on Friday.

Nigeria's electoral commission has not yet announced a full timetable for the parliamentary, presidential and state governorship polls but they are expected to be spread across a number of weeks in January.

Jonathan's office said last month he had not yet committed to whether or not he would run, but the latest policy announcements from his administration -- including the multi-billion dollar privatisation of the country's dilapidated power sector -- mean most Nigerians expect him to contest.

A bid by Jonathan would be controversial because of an agreement in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) that power should rotate between the Muslim north and Christian south every two terms, meaning a northerner should be the next leader.

Jonathan is a Christian southerner from the Niger Delta oil heartland. His opponents have criticised him for failing to make his position clear with less than five months to go until the polls are due.