The Kabir Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will hold a special national convention tomorrow, May 30, in Abuja to formally ratify the nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

The event, scheduled for the ‘A’ Class Event Centre, Kassim Ibrahim Way, Wuse 2, Abuja, is expected to draw party leaders, delegates, stakeholders, and supporters nationwide as the opposition party moves to consolidate its preparations ahead of the next electoral cycle.

In an invitation jointly signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, and the National Organising Secretary, Theophilus Dakas Shan, the party said the convention would serve as the formal ratification of Jonathan’s nomination following his emergence as the party’s sole presidential aspirant.

The planned ratification comes barely two weeks after the Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee (INWC) granted the former President an automatic ticket to contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.
But Jonathan did not react to news of his automatic re-election ticket, nor has he reacted to the party’s plans to ratify his nomination.

Chairman of the presidential screening committee and former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, had disclosed the decision while briefing journalists after the screening exercise held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Aliyu explained that Jonathan was exempted from screening and other nomination processes due to his political pedigree and previous service to the country as a deputy governor, governor, vice president, and president.

“The party had already given a presidential aspirant a waiver from screening,” Aliyu had said.

“As I said in the beginning, he was deputy governor, became governor, became vice president, and later president, so we didn’t see anything that needed screening.

“And, therefore, the party had given him a waiver. In other words, he has been declared and cleared as a candidate of the PDP for the presidential election, and that is former President Jonathan.”

The former governor also confirmed that Jonathan remained the only presidential aspirant seeking the PDP ticket as of the close of the screening exercise.

The development signals a major political comeback for the former president, who left office in 2015 after conceding defeat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in what was idely regarded as a landmark democratic transition.

Political observers believe the PDP leadership may have settled for Jonathan as a consensus figure capable of uniting the party’s various factions and rebuilding public confidence amid lingering internal disputes and defections that have weakened the opposition in recent years.