Get Guardian on GoogleThe opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders are courting former president Goodluck Jonathan, trying to persuade him to run for president again in 2027 under their banner.
According to BBC Hausa service report on Tuesday, monitored by our correspondent, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, confirmed the moves by the party to convince the former president to run again.
The Guardian recalls that Jonathan served as president for one term and lost his re-election bid in 2015 after he was defeated by late immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari.
The party spokesperson said the party is inviting Jonathan “because many Nigerians are also making similar calls to the former president to come back.”
According to him, Jonathan is a statesman and a good leader, having conceded defeat without any resistance.
“Nigerians have realised that Jonathan was a good leader and most of the problems they blamed him for were actually not his faults.
“He also exhibited high level of statesmanship by not rigging the 2015 elections despite his power to do so as an incumbent president, like what his predecessors had done, but he toed the path of honour and conceded defeat to avoid bloodshed,” he said.
He claimed that the former president has made a positive response to the invitation “and said he would ponder and consult about it to make a decision.”
“Some of the conditions he gave were: to be given automatic ticket if he accepts to run, though he also said he would have to make consultations before getting back to us,” he claimed.
The medium also reported that some governors have followed the former president to Gambia, where he attended a function, all as part of efforts to woo him to contest the presidential election in the party.
