Former President Goodluck Jonathan will not run for President in 2027 despite a recent court ruling affirming his eligibility and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), offering him its ticket, sources close to him have said.
They said Jonathan’s key advisers have warned him against allowing himself “to be messed up in the game,” arguing that the PDP lacks the structure and momentum to make an appreciable impact in the next election.
This came as the PDP finally ratified the former President as its candidate for the 2027 presidential election, despite the plan by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike to frustrate it.
The Minister had in a statement on Friday directed event center and hotel owners not to grant access to their facilities to political parties not recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and threatened to revoke the certificate of occupancy (C-of-O) of non-compliant event owners or hotels.
But the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the PDP which had already secured a venue at Wuse II for the ratification of the candidature of the former president, went ahead with the programme. But instead of holding the exercise at the event center as scheduled, it was held at the faction’s interim national secretariat at No 11 Owo Close in Garki District of Abuja.
Chairman of PDP Chairmen Forum, Tony Aziegbemi moved the motion for the adoption of former President Goodluck Jonathan as the presidential candidate for the 2027, and was seconded by Senator Mohamed Sanusi Degash.
The ratification was done through voice vote. Jonathan was however absent at the occasion. The certificate of return was collected on his behalf by Hon. Fred Agbedi, a member of the House of Representatives.
The faction thereafter moved to the paid venue but was confronted with a barricade by a truck load of policemen. Turaki accused some politicians of using their positions to thwart the nation’s democracy, adding, “we want to tell them that Nigeria is bigger than anybody and any group of persons.”
He told Wike that the time of fighting has not yet come, adding, “The time of fighting will come when we meet at the polls. “We will meet you there, we will fight you there, we will defeat you there, and then we will pin you down on the ground.”
The interim National Chairman called on PDP members to resist an attempt to provoke them to violence, and said anybody who fights does not have the chances of winning in an election. “We believe we are on the right course.
We believe that we are going to win the election. Therefore, fighting is not for us,” he boasted. Former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, regretted that Nigerian democracy has been derailed.
“I’m sad, I’m still very, very sad, that after so many years of development in Nigeria, we are still being reduced to this, under democracy. “We’re supposed to be having a special convention in a very, very well-organised place.
Now the police have taken over the whole… Are we back into military rule?” Gana asked Speaking on while Jonathan would not contest, a party chieftain said: “Unlike Peter Obi, who has followers in the Obidient Movement, Jonathan has no political structure and he cannot put one in place in the next six months to fight the presidential election”
He said the PDP’s interest in Jonathan is more about reviving the party’s image than about winning the presidency. “The PDP wants to use Jonathan to burnish its image and credibility.
They told the former president that the PDP needs him more than he needs the PDP,” another source said. “They just want to use him to revive the party and carry him in some parts of the country for the rejuvenation of the party.
They don’t believe he can win.” The sources added that Jonathan is expected to align with his advisers’ position.
