2027 Presidency: APC Reacts As PDP Moves For Jonathan’s Return

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has officially supported the idea of former President Goodluck Jonathan running for president in 2027.

Lately, there’s been a buzz suggesting that leaders and politicians from the north are dissatisfied with President Bola Tinubu’s leadership and are quietly hoping for a new government in the upcoming election.

Barely a week ago, Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, also expressed his support for this movement, promising to drop his own presidential bid if Jonathan decides to run.

Mohammed endorsed this idea at a gathering hosted by a non-profit organization, Save Africa Initiative, in Abuja.

He believes Jonathan’s experience is enough to improve the economy and that he would be effective in a second term as president.

In a one-on-one interview with The PUNCH, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, mentioned that the views of the Bauchi governor and other northern leaders align with the opposition’s.

Mohammed said: “We are absolutely in support of the position of the Bauchi State governor. Don’t forget, he was a prominent member of theJonathan’s administration where he was a minister. As the chairman of the 13 governors of the PDP, a two-term minister, former senator and a two-term governor rounding off his second term, you will expect him to understand and appreciate the situation of where this country is coming from, where it is at the moment and where we hope to take it to in the future.

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“If you are talking about a southern Presidency in 2027, we should be looking at one who had enjoyed one term and will probably give Nigerians hope and prosperity as opposed to the one we have in power. Secondly, if you are also talking about a nationalist, somebody who would not rig an election to keep himself in office, who announced before the counting process was over, that he lost, it has to be Jonathan.

“You remember that he called the victor, congratulated him and asked him to send people for the transition process. So, it is this kind of person with a listening ear that we believe can save the situation. No President in Nigerian history has been as criticised as Ebele Jonathan. We tolerated all sorts of insults targeted at us and his Presidency. But today, he is the one everybody is looking for with torchlight, even in broad daylight.”

Upon being told that the choice might not go well with former PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who has been called a habitual challenger by the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP spokesperson retaliated.

He stated that Atiku shouldn’t decide for the party regarding candidates for the 2027 elections, even though he is a significant shareholder of the PDP.

“It is not the place of Atiku to decide for the PDP. We are running a national political party, for crying out loud; one that has governed this country for 16 years. We cannot be expected to have one person determining the direction of the party. If anything, we respect him. He has given it (the presidency) a trial and has been on this for too long.

“But there are times when you realise a battle is no longer around you and you support someone. This is how things are done. If in 2019, we tried, in 2023, we tried again with Atiku, there is nothing wrong in trying someone else in 2027, especially if the odds seemed to favour that person more, which is the case.

“The situation this country is facing today is one that has gone beyond party lines or other narrow considerations. We require a nationalist in the clout of Goodluck Jonathan to be able to salvage the situation. It is clear that for the six and a half years that he was President, he was able to stabilise the forex to a very reasonable extent. The country was able to go on single digit inflation. This we will continue to reference,” he stated.

However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has contested this assertion, arguing that it was premature for any political party to engage in discussions regarding the 2027 presidential election.

During a recent chat with The PUNCH, the National Director of Publicity for the APC, Bala Ibrahim, derided the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), characterizing it as demonstrating signs of desperation in its efforts to cling to any semblance of survival.

Ibrahim, nonetheless, cautioned that should Jonathan decide to contest the presidency against Bola Tinubu on the opposition party’s ticket in the forthcoming election, he would once again experience the taste of defeat.

He said, “For us to start talking about 2027 is not only premature, but a calculation that is doomed. Less than 40 per cent of the mandate given to the President under the APC has not even been consumed. There is just no way the APC as a party will be jittery, if at all, there is such plan to enrol former President Goodluck Jonathan into the race.

“The APC defeated him when he was in power. Defeating him when he’s out of power will be a walkover. It is something that cannot even give the party a sleepless night. So, whoever is making this permutation, if the intention is to scare the APC as a party, I think he needs to go back to the drawing board and think again. We are not worried.

“As I said, let’s get to the river before we start thinking of crossing it. It is too early to start talking about 2027. But if you bring 10 former President Jonathan, they cannot defeat the APC as of today.”

Upon learning that a significant portion of political analysts attribute the APC’s victory over Jonathan in 2015 to the cult-like following of former President Muhammadu Buhari throughout the nation, Ibrahim chuckled.

The spokesperson for the APC maintained that there is documented evidence to support the assertion that Tinubu was the party’s leader at the time Buhari’s unexpected defeat of Otuoke’s politician occurred.

Furthermore, he conveyed a hopeful belief that a similar outcome could be observed if Jonathan were to accept the PDP’s proposal to compete against Tinubu in the future.

“The truth is that the APC defeated Goodluck Jonathan when the President (Tinubu) was the leader of the party. The APC will defeat him again now that Tinubu is the President and the leader of the party. It is not the Buhari’s cult followership that matters. It is the party arrangement. Buhari did not contest on an independent candidature status.

“Forget about the shenanigans that are on display now. When it’s time for election, the party will readily package its candidate and matches them for the consumption of the people. And I assure you that the people will buy it. But it is too early to start discussing this. But you know politicians for who they are.

“They always want to heat up the politics so that they keep seeing things as relevant. But in a four-year term, the president has just done slightly above one year and you are already thinking of somebody to bring in. No problem, democracy permits people to test the waters. But we will do things when it is time for them to be done,” he stated.