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Tag: Jonathan

  • 2027: ‘Jonathan no match for Tinubu’

    2027: ‘Jonathan no match for Tinubu’

    • Presidency cautions ex-president against ‘cheer leaders’
    • He’s only one of the options, says PDP
    • ‘Nigerians will recall his record’

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to enter the 2027 presidential race, the Presidency said yesterday.

    It however argued that Nigerians will judge the former leader on what it described as a “dismal” record in office and compare his tenure with what it called the “giant economic strides” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

     In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency blamed the early presidential campaign on those angling to unseat the incumbent.

     The Presidency spoke on a day that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled out its automatic 2027 presidential ticket to the former president, describing him (Jonathan) as one of the “numerous options” on its radar. 

    The Presidency said the early jostling for 2027 had been prematurely foisted on the nation by the desperation of the opposition ganging up against President Bola Tinubu,” Onanuga said in the statement, dismissing recent political rhetoric as “a cacophony of voices, most of them full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

    The statement singled out former Information Minister, Prof Jerry Gana, over his reported move to draft Jonathan into the 2027 presidential contest on PDP platform, which it described as “discredited” and responsible for “a legacy of economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.”

     According to the Presidency, Gana “is free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy,” adding that Jonathan’s entry would “provide another job” for the former university don.

    Jonathan, according to sources, has intensified consultations on his ambition to return to power in 2027.

    He was defeated in 2015 by former President Muhammadu Buhari in a historic election that was a referendum on his performance in the highest office.

    In the past few weeks, the former president was said to have visited former military President Ibrahim Babangida in Minna, the Niger State capital, and the Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic congress (ADC), Senator David Mark.

    Party sources said one of the conditions he gave to the ADC is that he should be the anointed presidential candidate at the primary, with no aspirant competing for the ticket with him.

    Despite his consultations with other leaders, his wife, a source said, has maintained her position that since President Tinubu supported him in the 2011 poll, it is fair to return the gesture by supporting his second term in 2027.

    Read Also: Presidency: Jonathan welcome to 2027 race but…

    Acknowledging Jonathan’s right to seek office, the Presidency said: “It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again, but any such bid would face judicial scrutiny.

    “The jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office.”

     The Presidency cautioned Jonathan to be “wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders,” alleging that figures “of Jerry Gana’s ilk” sought to lure him into the race for “personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests,” and would “abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015.”

     Recounting its view of Jonathan’s tenure, the statement said the administration “engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits,” claiming that key indicators declined and that “the nation’s economic downturn… actually began under President Jonathan”.

    It alleged that some business moguls “allocated foreign exchange to import fuel, simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything,” and that some still face court cases.

    It also accused Jonathan and his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), of distributing security funds to “friends and cronies.”

    Citing figures, the Presidency said Jonathan in 2010 inherited $66 billion ($46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), but left foreign reserves “below $30 billion” and the ECA “depleted to $2 billion” by 2015 “despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales”.

     It noted that oil price averaged about $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, yet by December 2014 “the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants,” while “at least 28 states” owed workers arrears.

     By contrast, the statement said: “President Tinubu has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy, removing fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates that paved the way for arbitrage.”

     It listed reported gains: Q2 2025 GDP growth of 4.23%, “the highest in four years” and above the IMF’s 3.4% projection; inflation “decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years”; foreign reserves at “$42.03 billion”; and a “virtually stabilised” naira.

     “Investor confidence… has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria,” it added.

     Beyond macroeconomic indicators, the statement said the “nation has turned the corner” and citizens are “reaping the gains” of reforms.

     It highlighted roads being rebuilt and new ones “springing up,” listing the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto–Badagry Highway, and said the government was “addressing security issues in some parts of the country.”

     “The PDP and Jerry Gana’s co-travellers broke the economy; President Tinubu is fixing it,” the Presidency declared, insisting Jonathan “will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.

     “President Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race. They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians who will not easily forget the recent past will not allow them to return to run it down again.”

  • 2027: No automatic ticket for Jonathan in PDP, says Gbenga Hashim Group

    2027: No automatic ticket for Jonathan in PDP, says Gbenga Hashim Group

    • …..Says PDP Ticket Not for Sale, Jonathan Must Contest 

    The Gbenga Hashim Solidarity Movement (GHSM) has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan will not enjoy a “free ride” to the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2027.

    Reacting to remarks credited to Professor Jerry Gana suggesting Jonathan’s possible comeback on the PDP platform, the GHSM National Coordinator, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, stressed that the PDP flagbearer would only emerge through an open and transparent process in line with the Electoral Act 2022.

    “With due respect, Professor Jerry Gana is entitled to his enthusiasm about the return of former President Jonathan. However, only PDP delegates to the national convention can pick the party’s flagbearer, and ultimately, God Almighty will determine the outcome, not a few party stalwarts,” Hamzat said in a statement.

    Read Also: 2027: Jonathan, David Mark disagree on ADC ticket

    Hamzat argued that Nigerians are yearning for progress, not a return to the past, warning that Jonathan represents an “old order” many citizens are ready to consign to history.

    “The Jonathan era cannot be painted as a perfect time. It was a period when the diversity of our nation began to be deeply mismanaged, rekindling ethnic tensions and religious bigotry, a legacy that has unfortunately worsened under subsequent governments,” he added.

    He also revisited Jonathan’s foreign policy record, faulting Nigeria’s decision in 2011 to break ranks with the African Union and support NATO’s intervention in Libya. He described the move as a “strategic blunder” that destabilized the Sahel and aggravated insecurity across Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and other West African countries.

    On domestic governance, the GHSM leader insisted that Jonathan still has questions to answer on corruption allegations that trailed his administration, particularly the infamous Dasukigate arms procurement scandal.

    Hamzat, however, affirmed that the PDP remains a democratic platform where no aspirant, including former presidents, should expect automatic endorsement.

    “If President Jonathan desires a return to Aso Rock, he must be ready to square up with nationally unifying aspirants such as Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim in an open and transparent primary,” Hamzat declared.

    He maintained that Nigerians deserve fresh leadership and a new vision to tackle the nation’s challenges, insisting that “the only way forward is forward, not backward.”

  • The Jonathan attraction

    The Jonathan attraction

    President Jonathan’s last Thursday close-door meeting with David Mark, the ADC chairman in Abuja, was reported by The Nation and a couple of other newspapers. Jonathan wanted to be reassured he could secure the ADC presidential ticket before joining the party. Jonathan’s current gamble must have been encouraged by his several years of political engagement during which he has always had his palm kernel cracked for him by a benevolent spirit (apology to Chinua Achebe).

    Jonathan is a man who has always had all his battles fought on his behalf. He has never been called to take responsibility even for his follies. He was minding his business as a fishery lecturer in the university when he was summoned to come and become deputy governor. Not long after, with the impeachment of his principal, he became governor by providence. Just as he was settling down in his new position, he was named vice president by Olusegun Obasanjo.

    And when the Yar’Adua front led by Chief James Ibori raised the question of propriety about his becoming acting president following Yar’Adua’s illness , Pastor Tunde Bakare and a host of other civil society groups took over the street of Lagos and Abuja, forcing the National Assembly to come up with the ‘doctrine of necessity’. He became president in spite of resistance from the north because Obasanjo was on ground to carry him on his back across the north probably to assure them Jonathan would do only one term. Of course, the south rallied round him because they saw in Jonathan an underdog being bullied by an overbearing north with their usual sense of entitlement. If Jonathan made any contribution at all, it was his almost inaudible s shriek cries “I am a shoeless school boy from Otuoke village; I know your pains because I have been there”.

    In a nation where the national question has been compounded by the dominant ethnic groups, their political parties and their politicians who insisted no one gets what they cannot get, Jonathan changed the paradigm. He secured an electoral victory without having to be adopted by any of the dominant groups. Obasanjo his godfather had little or no electoral value in his home base where he could not win in his polling booth. On their part, the owners of PDP in the north- Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau, Adamu Ciroma and Atiku Ababakar built an alliance of opposition against Jonathan on the eve of an election. Of course the age-long rivalry between the southeast and south-south affected his level of support in the two zones. Added to these challenges was PDP, Jonathan’s platform which had become more of a liability than an asset, having misgoverned the country for 12 years. There was no doubt Jonathan won the election in spite of PDP.

    Unfortunately because others have always fought Jonathan’s wars, he was unable to manage victories that came his way so cheaply. His first political debacle was his appointment of secretary to government. It did not take time for his government to start taking an ethnic colouration. Even the ministry of finance office of our revered Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was taken over by one ethnic group and when confronted, she said her people got their positions on merit.

    President Jonathan unfortunately was unable to manage or confront the hijackers of his government. He could not do more than writhe his hands as Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, his minister of petroleum stole the country blind. There were institutional reports that questioned the aviation minister’s handling of the $360 subsidy to the airlines and the $500m Chinese loan out of which 30 brand new aircraft were to be bought for the ailing airlines. But to President Jonathan, Princess Stella Oduah who later accompanied him on a pilgrimage to Rome, remained untouchable.

    Depending on whose figure you are adopting between President Yar’Adua, Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Power Minister Lyel Imoke, government spent between $6billion and $16billion on unbundling of PHCN.   Under Jonathan administration, the unbundled companies were sold as discos to PDP stalwarts including his serving minister of power and others who knew next to nothing about electricity. A bank owner who later donated N3b to Jonathan’s presidential campaign fund bought one of the discos. Another went to a professor of Geography who had spoken for every government in power since Shehu Shagari’s 1979 presidency.  He served as the head of delegation of new disco owners seeking bail-out and equity participation from a government that had just privatized the discos while setting aside $500m for support.

    It is also on record that President Jonathan only paid lip service to fighting corruption. He had in fact dismissively said “if they have succeeded in fighting, corruption, corruption would not have been with us today”.

    It is therefore not difficult to understand why James Ibori who sponsored  the Yar’Adua and Jonathan’s presidential ticket in 2007 served jail terms in London for the same offence over which he secured reprieve from an Asaba High Court; why Edo governor, Lucky Igbinedion got a slap on the wrist for running the finances of Edo State aground and why a convicted felon who converted 70% of his state resources to personal use got presidential pardon in order to, in the words of Doyin Okupe “make more contributions to the development of his fatherland”.

    Under Jonathan, KPMG’s report on NNPC; the report on fuel subsidy regime; pending cases against prominent PDP members in the banking sector, those of oil subsidy fraudsters; the $10b NNPC missing fund President Jonathan said would be unravelled through forensic inquiry and the $30b from excess crude account consistently raised by governors Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi remained stalled because the “wheel of justice according to the president grinds slowly”.

    Read Also: Sahel intelligence agencies to expose Nigerian politicians backing terrorists 

    Jonathan who has always overcome challenges through luck must have taken note of all the above personal failings before convincing himself that that today, fate beckons on him  as the only one who can bring back PDP years of the locust. Although all those earnestly praying for the return of President Jonathan including Bauchi governor Bala Mohammed and the embattled disco owners who for lack of technical knowhow and financial muscle, have lost their cherished discos to banks, have not denied being driven by self-interest. Jonathan however believes he is the one ordained to bring back the glory PDP lost as a result of their endless violent family dispute over the sharing of our resources.

    But just as Jonathan who is now convinced he has been called upon by destiny to trade his earned status of African statesman to joining the current toxic Nigerian political environment where an unthinking mob called ‘Obidients’ threaten to visit violence on critics of their leader who daily mouth democracy without a demonstration of democratic ethos such as congratulating a victorious opponent, let me call his attention to the implication of his rejection of the voice of reason.

    He will be haunted by the legacies of his five years of maladministration covering incompetence, his alleged sponsorship of militant groups as governor of Bayelsa and his mishandling of the power sector privatization which according to Punch newspaper “transferred most of the generation and distribution companies to untested, incompetent domestic consortia that have saddled Nigeria with a legal quagmire’.

    There was the report of an international judicial probe that claimed that Nigerian government was defrauded to the tune of $1.1bn through the Malabu oil field scam. The case of Jonathan’s unconstitutional removal of Lamido Sanusi as CBN governor for alerting Nigerians of missing $20b from NNPC account and the heavy price Nigeria paid for replacing him with unqualified, incompetent and a man without character like Godwin Emefiele .Of course, Jonathan will be reminded as soon as he joins the political fray that he an ethnic jingoist who came to Lagos to appeal to non-Yoruba residents to vote out the resourceful Lagos State governor; traded  Obasanjo he had earlier described as “after God and his father, Obasanjo is the next”, for Chief Edwin Clark, his fellow Ijaw man, and his deployment of the leadership of the Ijaw militant groups he had empowered through award of multibillion dollar contracts to unleash ‘verbal terrorism’ on the leadership of the Hausa Fulani.

    Finally, Jonathan will be haunted by his failed attempt to write his own account of his “five years of corrupt-ridden administration” dismissed by a Punch newspaper editorial as “a potpourri of falsehoods, hypocrisy and lame excuses”. And of course there was the London Economist’s damning verdict that Jonathan was the ‘most corrupt, most clueless government in Nigeria’s history”.

  • Presidency: Jonathan welcome to 2027 race but…

    Presidency: Jonathan welcome to 2027 race but…

    The Presidency on Monday said former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 presidential election but argued that Nigerians will judge him on what it described as a “dismal” record in office, while contrasting that period with what it called the “giant economic strides” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the early jostling for 2027 had been “prematurely foisted on the nation by the desperation of the opposition ganging up against President Bola Tinubu,” dismissing recent political rhetoric as “a cacophony of voices, most of them full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

    The statement singled out former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, over his reported move to draft Jonathan into the 2027 presidential contest on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which it described as “discredited” and responsible for “a legacy of economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.” 

    It said Gana was “free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy,” adding that Jonathan’s entry would “provide another job” for the former university don.

    While acknowledging Jonathan’s right to seek office—“it is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again”—the Presidency said any such bid would face judicial scrutiny. 

    It stated that “the jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office.”

    The Presidency cautioned Jonathan to be “wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders,” alleging that figures “of Jerry Gana’s ilk” sought to lure him into the race for “personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests,” and would “abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015.”

    Read Also: Atiku, Jonathan and 2027 (1)

    Recounting its view of Jonathan’s tenure, the statement said the administration “engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits,” claiming that key indicators declined and that “the nation’s economic downturn… actually began under President Jonathan”.

    It alleged that some business moguls “allocated foreign exchange to import fuel, simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything,” and that some still face court cases. 

    It also accused Jonathan and his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), of distributing security funds to “friends and cronies.”

    Citing figures, the Presidency said Jonathan in 2010 inherited $66 billion—$46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account (ECA)—but left foreign reserves “below $30 billion” and the ECA “depleted to $2 billion” by 2015 “despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales”.

    It noted that oil averaged about $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, yet by December 2014 “the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants,” while “at least 28 states” owed workers arrears.

    By contrast, the statement said President Tinubu “has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy,” removing fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates that “paved the way for arbitrage.” 

    It listed reported gains: Q2 2025 GDP growth of 4.23%, “the highest in four years” and above the IMF’s 3.4% projection; inflation “decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years”; foreign reserves at “$42.03 billion”; and a “virtually stabilised” naira. 

    “Investor confidence… has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria,” it added.

    Beyond macroeconomic indicators, the statement said the “nation has turned the corner” and citizens are “reaping the gains” of reforms. 

    It highlighted roads being rebuilt and new ones “springing up,” naming the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto–Badagry Highway, and said the government was “addressing security issues in some parts of the country.”

    “The PDP and Jerry Gana’s co-travellers broke the economy; President Tinubu is fixing it,” the Presidency declared, insisting Jonathan “will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.”

    “President Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race. They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians who will not easily forget the recent past will not allow them to return to run it down again,” the statement reads. 

  • 2027: Jonathan, David Mark disagree on ADC ticket

    2027: Jonathan, David Mark disagree on ADC ticket

    • Jonathan: assure me that I’ll be the candidate
    • Mark: Presidential ticket is open to all
    • Obi also wants assurance he’ll be picked
    • Atiku set to formally join party, declare ambition

    The closed door meeting between former President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator David Mark, in Abuja on Thursday was all about Jonathan’s ambition to return to office as president in 2027, The Nation investigation has revealed.

    But the former president’s desire to secure the ticket of the coalition party may have experienced a hitch as Mark pointedly told him that the only way his dream of picking the party’s ticket could materialise was to formally join it and also take part in a fair and transparent presidential primary.

    With Jonathan failing to get a commitment from the party’s national chairman, the two statesmen agreed to “meet soon to review the matter.”

    The Nation investigation revealed that not only Jonathan but also former vice president Atiku Abubakar and former presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi all want a definite commitment from the party on their presidential aspiration, but the new party leadership is not forthcoming.

    The development is said to have accounted for their delay in pitching their tents with the ADC.

    The Nation findings revealed that any commitment the three presidential aspirants make to ADC could be “fatal” for their ambition if they fail to get the party’s ticket.

    They fear that committing themselves to the party without securing its presidential ticket could leave them “stranded or stuck politically”.

    Jonathan’s audience with Mark, a source said, could be an indication that the former president is “not keen on running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because the main opposition party has become too toxic”.

    Insiders in ADC said the coalition is shaky because some leaders of the party are actually not ready for change in 2027.

    One of them said about 65 to 70 per cent of ADC is in the firm control of Atiku, adding that what they are offering Obi is to be running mate. “No leader in the party is bold enough to ask Atiku to concede the presidential slot to Obi or Jonathan,” the source said.

    It noted that Obi has been consistent in telling ADC leaders that power must remain in the South for eight years for the sake of equity, which is why he pledged to do one term if elected president.

    The source added: “The supporters of Obi and Jonathan are insistent that presidency must remain in the South in 2027. We don’t know which doctrine Mark will come up with.

    “As part of an unwritten deal, Obi has assured repeatedly that he won’t contest presidential primary election with Atiku or any election against Atiku in Adamawa State.

    “He also said he will be on the presidential election ballot in 2027. It means technically, they cannot be in the same party except Atiku sacrifices his ambition.

    “Obi has also said if he was Atiku’s vice presidential candidate in 2019, there is nothing bad if Atiku is magnanimous to allow him one term in 2027.”

    The source noted, however, that Obi has a major problem with his supporters who have asked him not to be deputy to any presidential aspirant. Hence he finds it difficult to go back to them to say he has changed his mind as doing so will be politically suicidal.

    Jonathan, the source said, fits the bill as a compromise candidate, but his strong base used to be the South-East which is now the political fortress of Obi.

    He said some Northern leaders want Jonathan to spend one term in the office (the only constitutional limit left for him), but there are two hurdles before him, namely getting the ticket a la carte (on a platter of gold) and securing the overwhelming backing of the North.

    “With Atiku’s control of ADC, it will be difficult for Jonathan to get ADC mandate.

    “Atiku has not formally joined ADC because he was said to be doing his homework. He does not want to be betrayed like the case in PDP.

    “He has invested a lot in ADC and presidential aspirants like ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi can turn the table.”

    Another source said: “It is not a bed of roses in ADC. The coalition is shaky.”

    Situation in Jonathan’s camp

    A highly-placed source, who was privy to what transpired between Mark and Jonathan, said the ADC National Chairman ruled out automatic ticket for any aspirant.

    Mark’s response was said to be “not too convincing” for Jonathan and his strategists.

    The source said: “His host was pleased to welcome him to his residence. He told him to join ADC if he wants to contest.

    “It was clear at the meeting that PDP is not a likely option because of the plethora of cases and infighting.

    “So far, the only option for Jonathan is to join ADC.

    Read Also: Jonathan: To run or not to run?

    “Mark was, however, quick to tell him that there will be fair and transparent primary election.”

    Asked of the meeting’s outcome, the source added: “They would meet in due course to review the matter.

    “I think the outcome of the ongoing consultations by Jonathan will determine whether he will contest or not.”

    Atiku to declare for ADC soon

    Responding to a formal enquiry from our correspondent, ex-VP Atiku Abubakar said he would not put the cart before the horse.

    He said it was taken for granted that he would join the ADC.

    He said he was preoccupied with building the party before joining in Jada Ward, Adamawa State.

    The spokesman for Atiku, Mr. Paul Ibe, made the position of the VP known to our correspondent in Abuja.

    He said: “Atiku Abubakar is a committed and active member of the coalition ADC.

    “Alongside other leaders, he has been vigorously working to plant structures and build a formidable platform that can liberate Nigerians from the urban bandits presently holding the country hostage.

    “The process is well underway and will culminate in him formally collecting his ADC membership card at his ward in Jada, Adamawa State.

    “Meanwhile, his focus remains on consolidating the party’s strength across the state.”

    On directive to party leaders and members to leave their paties, Ibe said: “Atiku fully supports the directive without reservation.”

    The ex-VP said he was not afraid of presidential primary election with other contestants.

    He added: “What matters to Atiku and other coalition leaders is building a strong and credible platform to serve Nigerians. They are not putting the cart before the horse.

    “His commitment is to safeguarding our democracy, which is under siege under Tinubu’s government.

    “Once this disastrous administration is gone, the salvation of the economy will take centre stage.

    “The former Vice President has said he will run and encourages others to join the contest.

    “But he is not putting the cart before the horse.

    “The distraction about who is running and who is not is a ploy of the Tinubu-led APC to divide the opposition.

    “We shall not be deceived, and we shall not fall for their tricks.”

    Obi weighing options, consolidating political leverage

    More than any leader in ADC, Obi is consolidating his grip on the South-East and reaching out to other ethnic groups.

    He is also ahead of others in the social media for mobilisation for 2027 which may or may not translate to huge votes for him.

    While he is still first rated among the Igbo, the low voters’ registration in his political enclave was a cause for worry.

    Investigation revealed that most ADC leaders see Obi as an asset for representing a bloc in the country, but they are trying to persuade him to accept the VP slot.

    A source said: “We believe he has the moral pedigree to lead Nigeria now than other aspirants in ADC.

    “His greatest headache in ADC is the offer of VP, which his supporters are opposed to.

    “When you look at the political matrix, he cannot go it alone as a presidential candidate.

    “Again, the party platform is not there except ADC, which he is cautious about.

    A WhatsApp message sent to Obi’s spokesperson Valentine Obienyem at 9.29am on Saturday was yet to be responded to at 6pm.

  • Atiku, Jonathan and 2027 (1)

    Atiku, Jonathan and 2027 (1)

    Although they are impelled by divergent motivations and actuated by competing strategies, the emergent variegated opposition to a second term for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is united by a common loathing bordering on hatred for a man who, against all odds, beat them to the electoral crown in the 2023 presidential polls. Perhaps that is not too accurate after all. For, the opposition waged a most intense and unprecedented campaign of calumny against his election before and during the campaigns, worked assiduously to delegitimize the contest after his triumph, tried without success to blackmail and intimidate the judiciary into nullifying the election based on fragile and untenable evidence that the jurists found unconvincing, instigated calls for military intervention to abort his being sworn into office when the courts ruled in his favour and have unceasingly demonstrated their utter disregard for the expressed will of the electorate since PBAT’s assumption of office.

    Barely two years into his tenure, they announced the formation of a coalition to unseat him at the next election in 2027, even though moves towards this end were said to have commenced well before his administration had clocked even one year in office. Congregating ultimately in the existing African Democratic Congress (ADC), which had a leadership enthusiastic to sell its platform to the highest bidder, the likes of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar;  presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi;, former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir ‘el-Rufai; former Rivers State governor and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi;  former military administrator in the inglorious era of praetorian dictatorship and Senate President, David Mark; former governor of Osun State and Minister of the Interior, Rauf Aregebesola; former Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal; and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, among others have been vocal in propagating what they perceive as the strength of the party.

    The outcome of the recent by-elections across the country, however, indicates that the media prominence and assumed political status of leading lights of the ADC are at variance with their actual electoral value in reality. Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the coalition, has deftly tried to play down the import of those polls as a credible measure of the political weight of the coalition, but he would no doubt have been singing a different tune had the ADC lived up to its pre-election boast of demonstrating its emergence as a major electoral force in the exercise. Despite its poor showing in the by-elections, at which it won only one seat in Oyo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) affirmed its position as the main opposition party in the country even though it has been embroiled in a debilitating crisis.

    Even as the prospects are bright that the successful holding of its National Convention slated for November in Ibadan may usher in the restoration of normalcy and stability to the PDP, it is instructive that the opposition may be heading into the 2027 elections even more divided than it was in 2023. Against a ruling APC rendered more cohesive by the power of incumbency and the advantage of patronage which this confers in Nigerian politics, the opposition is splintered along PDP, ADC and an embattled LP lines. It is instructive that the ADC on Thursday directed that its members still in other parties resign and formally join its ranks, indicating a lack of confidence of some of its key sympathisers in the efficacy and sustainability of the coalition.

    Interestingly, at the end of its last caucus meeting, reportedly attended by former Vice-President Atiku; its National Chairman, David Mark; National Secretary, Ogbeni Aregebesola, Mallam Nasir ‘el-Rufai, Chibuike Amaechi, Aminu Tambuwal and with Peter Obi absent but sending his apologies, it was agreed that they would all support whoever emerged as presidential candidate in the primaries. According to Bolaji Abdullahi, “All the presidential candidates have agreed to support whoever wins the primaries election”. This appears to be an astute move by Atiku, who is believed to be the moving spirit behind the ADC coalition and seems poised to clinch its presidential ticket, although it is unlikely that Mr Obi, in particular, will agree to play second fiddle to the emergent candidate if he does not win the ticket. For if he does, he is not unlikely to lose political traction and relevance in his South-East Igbo ethnic redoubt and among his truculent ‘Obidient’ base.

    Although Atiku and his minders have tried to routinely punch holes in the economic policies of the PBAT administration, he has not come up with any coherent alternative policy framework that indicates what he would do differently from and better than the incumbent administration if elected. The former Vice-President, who has been attempting to be elected the country’s President since 1993, cross-carpeting from party to party in the process, seems obsessed with realising some mystical/spiritual prophecy as revealed by his nemesis, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in the latter’s autobiography. To achieve this end, he would make any promise, such as his sudden declaration of support for restructuring of the country in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, even though he gave no indication of any such ideological inclination throughout his eight years as vice President of Nigeria.

    Atiku’s frequent moral strictures against the PBAT administration sound hollow as his track record in public life, particularly his role in the dubious privatisation exercise under the Obasanjo administration, or the sordid revelations as regards the handling of the funds of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) under his superintendence, preclude him from any ethical grandstanding. He is just another grasping member of the Nigerian predatory political class and with no redeeming record of any transformative role in public service. In 2023, he sought to contest the country’s presidency against the unwritten credo of commitment by the political class to rotation of the presidency between the North and the South in the interest of national cohesion and stability. His Machiavellian success in deploying all means, no matter how gross, to the attainment of his goal not only cost his party the election but was fundamentally responsible for the protracted crisis from which the PDP is only gradually recovering.

    The Waziri Adamawa did not hesitate at several fora to call on northerners to vote only for a northern candidate in the 2023 elections and he succeeded in winning in key northern states, including Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Taraba states. Osun and Bayelsa were the only southern states in which Atiku won. However, not only did Tinubu win in such northern states as Jigawa, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Borno, Niger and Zamfara, he came a close second in those core northern states where Atiku won. Although he is too astute to openly accuse PBAT of discrimination against the North in appointments and infrastructure projects, Atiku has left that distracting lamentation that flies in the face of the facts to the likes of his one time trenchant traducer and now fellow traveler in the ADC, Nasir ‘el-Rufai, Babachir Lawal and those socio-cultural groups in the region known to be sympathetic to his cause over the years.

    However, prominent voices in the North, including el-Rufai’s successor in Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani; Niger State governor, Umar Bago;  Nasarawa State governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule; Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Tajudeen Abass; Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau; Senator Kabiru Gaya, as well as such former governors as Umar Ganduje, Aminu Bello Masari and Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, among others, have risen to debunk the allegations against Tinubu and counter the orchestrated campaign against the PBAT administration in the North. Just as in 2023, eminent northern politicians insist that the principle of rotation of the presidency must be respected till the South’s turn ends in 2031 and declared their support for the re-election of the President.

    Still pushing an essentially northern electoral agenda, Atiku is counting on southern votes being split in 2027 while he will seek to galvanise block northern votes in his favour. Towards this end, he is assiduously cultivating the support of elements of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the political group of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, who harbour grievances against the PBAT administration. His desire is to inherit the 12 million votes that Buhari always garnered in elections in the region. But then, several eminent members of the CPC have declared their continued support for the APC. Again, virtually all those CPC members who have jumped on the coalition bandwagon did not deliver their constituencies for Tinubu in 2023. These include Abubakar Malami, ‘el-Rufai, Babachir Lawal or Hadi Abubakar Sirika.

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    Furthermore, neither the CPC elements supporting Atiku in the ADC nor Waziri Adamawa himself has built the kind of reputation for simplicity, humility, an austere spirituality, incorruptibility and integrity that endeared Buhari to the millions of northern talakawas. It is mere wishful thinking that they can automatically inherit the support base of a leader whose values, their lifestyles and conduct in public office flagrantly contradict. Atiku will no doubt be hoping that, if they contest, Peter Obi or former President Goodluck Jonathan will help facilitate his victory by dividing PBAT’s electoral support base in the South. Of particular interest in this regard is Jonathan, whom some prominent PDP leaders are reportedly wooing to join the party with a view to flying its presidential flag in 2027.

    For one, these pro-Jonathan PDP leaders believe that only a Southern candidate can defeat PBAT at the next election and that the former President is their best bet in this regard. Again, they believe that the goodwill he garnered by the meek and unassuming way he accepted his defeat in 2015 and his subsequent transition to a statesman for good governance in Africa will make him an electoral asset for their party. From his body language so far, there is no indication that Dr Jonathan is not quietly enthused about the prospects of his returning to power in 2027, even though some of his close aides are said to have counselled that any such attempt carries the risk of tainting and discrediting his new status as a nonpartisan statesman.

    It has been speculated that the only condition under which Jonathan will accept to be the presidential candidate of any party is if he emerges as a consensus choice who will not have to contest primaries. This seems to be the same condition he had given to those elements who sought to draft him to contest the 2023 elections on the platform of the APC. It is difficult to see how any party can meet this condition by preventing their members interested in contesting from exercising the democratic right to do so. This is particularly so as the former President’s emergence as the flag bearer of any party will most likely generate intense legal battles with unpredictable outcomes.

    Even more importantly, Jonathan’s husbandry of the country’s economic resources played a critical role in worsening the economic crisis into which Nigeria was plunged and that the PBAT administration is striving to address through ongoing painful but inevitable reforms that a consensus of experts agree are yielding positive results. The key reason proffered by advocates of Jonathan’s return to power is that he can only constitutionally spend one term of four years, after which power will shift back to the North. Has he, since 2015, demonstrated that if given a second chance, he will manage the country’s economy any better than he did between 2010 and 2015?

  • I don’t hold grudges against people, says Jonathan

    I don’t hold grudges against people, says Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said he does not hold grudges against anyone over past actions taken against him, stressing the importance of forgiveness and letting go, particularly in politics, to foster national cohesion and development.

    Jonathan made the remarks on Wednesday evening during a requiem mass in Abuja for the late Chief Audu Ogbeh. 

    He joined family, friends, and associates to pay his last respects to the elder statesman, renowned politician, and farmer.

    Jonathan’s message was contained in a statement issued by his special adviser, Ikechukwu Eze.

    In his tribute, the former president described Ogbeh as a humble and forgiving leader who never held on to resentment, reflecting his philosophy of life.

    “Chief Ogbeh was a man who did not seek revenge. He believed the past should be left behind and that we must keep moving forward,” Dr. Jonathan said. “In that sense, he was just like me. If you hurt me today, I will forgive you. I don’t carry grudges against people. I believe the past is past—and I move on.”

    Reflecting on his personal relationship with the late Chief Ogbeh, Dr. Jonathan recalled their close friendship dating back to his time as Deputy Governor.

    “I didn’t know Chief Ogbeh until I became a deputy governor when he was serving as National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At that time, deputy governors were often seen as spare tyres, but he treated me as a close friend. Whenever I visited Abuja, I would go to see him, and we always had good conversations. He was such a kind and generous person,” he said.

    Dr. Jonathan added that their relationship remained cordial even after he became president.

    “Whenever he wanted to see me, he would come, and sometimes we would spend up to an hour discussing national issues,” he noted.

    The former President urged Nigerian politicians to emulate the values Chief Ogbeh stood for, especially his humility, spirit of forgiveness, and ability to unify people across different segments of society.

  • Jonathan: To run or not to run?

    Jonathan: To run or not to run?

    • By Sunday Olagunju

    Sir: One of the hallmarks of good politics is to know when to quit, and the legendary British novelist and playwright, Shakespeare, concludes it – “when the ovation is loudest”. Again, in the words of the iconic Shakespeare, “opportunities, like flood, are taken at the highest level, but when the flood resides, what remains are eyesores of unpleasantries”.

    Despite his defeat in 2015 by the then APC flagbearer, late Muhammadu Buhari, former president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, earned a place for himself by voluntarily relinquishing power and returned to his village, Otuoke, Balyesa State.

    The African Union (AU) found him useful as an ex-Nigerian administrator and had engaged him in many troubled spots as their peace mediator and ambassador and had done quite well.

    Jonathan’s humility and unassuming political attitude found favour with former president, Olusegun Obasanjo who did everything politically possible to make him vice president to the late Musa Yar’Adua at the expense of lots of more qualified politicians. Luck again smiled at him when his principal, Yar’Adua, died and by constitutional declaration, he became president and also contested in 2011 and won until 2015 when he met his political waterloo in the APC coalition.

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    Between 2010 and 2015, Jonathan’s presidency did not really redound into good governance, good welfare or well calibrated policies, but rather a great distortion to the economy he inherited from the late Yar’Adua. His saving grace was the defeat of 2015.

    Given the great difference between him and the personages that governed and are still governing the country since his exit from power, it will be a huge joke and a monumental deception on his part to think that Nigerians will want to troop out in 2027 to vote him as their president.

    Jonathan could borrow from former American president, Bill Clinton who confessed that after leaving the presidency, the money he was making for delivering speeches and lectures based on his years of experience as US President tripled his earnings as president. Is former President Jonathan saying that he has not discovered his other talents since leaving office as president that can stand him in good stead to his rather belated ambition to enter Nigeria’s murky political waters?

    If the examples of former Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalaam Abubakar are anything to go by, there is certainty that Jonathan’s second coming may not be to bolster up his image. Nigeria’s political terrain since 2015 when he exited power, and now, has become more toxic and vicious than ever.

    Moreover, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) under which flag he became president has become a political anathema and a shadow of its old self. From 2015 till now, Nigerians have become wiser and much more informed politically that nobody, not even an ex-president now from the blues and political exile, can come suddenly to the ring to take them for a ride.

    Nigerians cannot be so careless as to succumb to any plan or gimmickry that can draw them to a false start again.

    •Sunday Olagunju,

    Ibadan, Oyo State.

  • Of Jonathan and g(l)ory elephant

    Of Jonathan and g(l)ory elephant

    “The words of our elders,” went a long running promo on Radio Nigeria (later Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN), “are words of freedom.”

    So, are our folklores: a trove of wisdom — but strictly for those willing to learn.

    Link that to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s reported appetite to run again for president, after his defeat in 2015, and you’ll have quite a lot to chew.

    The Jonathan ambition, if true, is no crime.  It’s his inalienable citizen right.  Still, he must first contend that right with Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution.  That clause bars anyone previously sworn in twice as president from running again.

    But the lore that speaks to Jonathan’s hopeful presidential encore is a Yoruba folktale: a ploy to see the elephant mount the throne. 

    All the hoodwinked elephant saw was glory and endless glory.  But all his plotters planted was out-and-out sorry-and-gory sight, with the elephant soaked in own blood.

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    The cynical tale burst into an impish chant: “Erin ka rele o, ko wa joba … Erin ye-ye, Erin ye-ye … Iwoyi ola re … Eje a mase bala … Esinsin a mase woyin …”

    The depth of this chant can hardly be grasped my non-Yoruba speakers. 

    But suffice it to say it was dire warning, couched in subversive flattery: “By this time tomorrow, blood will freely flow, and flies will swarm, buzz and drone … all feasting on the elephant’s blood and gore — in a glory tale turned gory!

    Our folklores are a trove of wisdom — but only for those willing to learn!

    Of course, no arm will come to Jonathan.  But what remains of his presidential essence would be totally savaged — no thanks to an incomparable tenure: in abject failure, and near-total emptiness, on almost all fronts.

    Yet, Jonathan happened on the scene as something fresh. Indeed, one of his campaign adverts sold him as “a breath of fresh air” — and yes he was, in a way.

    He was a minority of the minorities. But he broke the numbers mould; and trumped the majority of majorities, to be elected Nigerian president (2011-2015).  That was after, as Vice President, he had completed the tenure of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who died in office (2010-2011).

    His troubled presidency left the air not only dank but stale, with a foreboding of total collapse.  That fear powered the late President Muhammadu Buhari into office.

    Indeed, the Jonathan irony: his finest hour — and high redemption — was his defeat in 2015, not his victory in 2011.  That irony ought to remind Jonathan of his stark presidency.

    His victory in 2011 was the sheer ecstasy of the “Nigerian dream” — a sheer plagiarism of the so-called America dream, before Donald Trump, a roiling chunk of damaged humanity, rolled out from America’s troubled shadows.

    A shoeless boy, from the tiniest minority of his minority Ijaw clan from Bayelsa State, just romped into power as third president, of Nigeria’s 4th Republic!  Dreams!

    What was more?  He even built on the late Yar’Adua, who had a Master’s degree. Jonathan was the first Nigerian president to boast a PhD — and it wasn’t honorary! 

    So, from goodwill that romped a minority into elected office over grubby numbers; to scholastic élan that promised rigorous public policy, a logical handmaiden of rational politics, everything promised a new dawn!

    But alas!  Jonathan delivered the diametric opposite, almost on all scores!  Instead of rigour, flabby was the word — policies or politics! If ever there was a time Nigeria came close to a total collapse, it was during the Jonathan years, when high-stake public sector heists became almost iconic!

    In a way, there is much to be said that Jonathan’s woes issued from the systemic rot of the Olusegun Obasanjo years, which the Owu chief nevertheless white-washed as some holiest of holies, just because the self-named Mr. Right was involved. 

    In trying to chisel the ruling PDP in own grim image, the first president of the 4th Republic had, almost beyond measure, profaned everything — corrupted policies, and near-collapsed the new and very, very delicate democratic institutions.

    Recall: the botched power sector privatization, its failed upgrade, the ugly tiff between president and vice president, the Obasanjo presidential library strange “donations” and the defeated third term attempt: a public knowledge, which the man continues to deny.  Aside: the “simple minority” impeachments that nearly tanked the political order!

    Besides, Jonathan himself became an equal-opportunity target for Obasanjo’s cynical derision because, many swear, he refused to be Obasanjo’s poodle.  That was a grand distraction.

    So, there is some merit in holding that Jonathan was a fall guy of the 11-year PDP vice, before he took over.  Still, Jonathan added his own bumbling to the ugly mix.

    But then, came salvation from the oddest of places: electoral defeat!  For not only accepting defeat but also shunning wasteful post-defeat litigation, Jonathan became a democracy hero of a sort.  Indeed, blessed are they, whose sins are covered!

    It’s this suspect halo that Jonathan risks shattering, with his rumoured come-back.

    Still, Jonathan must know: those prompting him to a comeback — not unlike the anti- elephant sweet plotters — are cold-blooded calculators.  Whatever fate befalls their quarry is no business of theirs.

    With a flash of vaulting ambition, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar virtually erased PDP in the South East: PDP only maintained a gubernatorial foothold in Enugu; and badly dented PDP in the South-South: retaining Bayelsa, Delta and, well, Rivers. But Wike’s Rivers wasn’t exactly the flavour Atiku craved!

    Post-2023: Delta is gone; Edo and Akwa-Ibom too.  Wike’s Rivers, on the balance of power, roots for Tinubu 2027. Cross River had crossed over in 2023. So, out of pre-2023 six near-”sure banker” states, only in one — Jonathan’s Bayelsa — can PDP hope there is hope, even then, marginally!

    What the Tinubu order has done is radically change the path to the Presidency, at least in that bloc!  Against this blitzkrieg, the counter-strategy of the Atiku PDP faction, now flexing muscles in ADC, is to parlay hunger as electoral strategy in his native North; and lay much store by the many anti-North lies and bogeys Atiku and allies have planted in the Tinubu court.

    It’s this desperation — this cold calculation — to chip away at the emerging APC southern phalanx that the Jonathan comeback orchestra is striking up new tunes.

    Tinubu has responded by dropping discrete IOUs in sundry demographics: student loans (youth), consumer credit (the broke(n) middle class), conditional cash transfer (for the dirt poor), regional development commissions, etc. 

    Aside endorsements across party lines — as fickle as that may be — the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), across sundry sectors, is busy charming citizens, via soft power, nationwide.

    To be sure, a Jonathan entry should alter the electoral calculations.  But the question is: how much?  And at what cost to him?

    Dr. Jonathan had better be well guided. So that his fate doesn’t equate the tragic elephant’s: eyes sparkling for glory but fatally shut with gory tales.

  • Nigeria politics full of betrayals, lies-Jonathan

    Nigeria politics full of betrayals, lies-Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the 2015 general elections which he lost to late former President Muhammadu Buhari were full of betrayals.

    Jonathan said Nigeria’s political atmosphere was full of betrayals and lies.

    He spoke in Benin City at the 70th birthday ceremony of his former Chief of Staff and former Edo Deputy Governor Chief Mike Ogiadomhe.

    The former President named Ogiadomhe as an ally he could trust at all times.

    “I became president , then post presidency, one of the few friends that can give up their necks for me is Mike. You know politics, in the Nigerian standard, is about betrayals.

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    “You find it difficult to see somebody who will say the same thing in the morning and in the evening. I’ve witnessed a lot of betrayals, especially my 2015 elections, and Mike is somebody who would take a bullet on my behalf.

    “He is somebody that you can take his word to the bank. Most other politicians, you cannot take their words to the bank. They will tell you something, the next one hour they are saying another”.

    Governor Monday Okpebholo, who was represented by his Deputy, Dennis Idahosa, said the foundation the celebrant laid as Deputy was still being followed.

    Former Governor Lucky Igbinedion said he used to hand over affairs of the State to Ogiadomhe as Deputy Governor whenever he travelled abroad.

    Other dignitaries present were Professor Osarhiemen Osunbor; former Gombe Governor, Ibrahim Dakwambo as well as Edo former Deputy Governors Rev. Peter Obadan, Pius Odubu and Marvelous Omobayo.