With fresh revelations about the legibility of Dr Goodluck Jonathan to contest for the 2027 presidential election, loyalists and close allies of the president, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu are returning to the drawing board, in their bid to dissuade Jonathan from running against the sitting president.
The president’s men had initially thought of using threats of non-qualification to stop Jonathan from contesting. Last week, Festus Keyamo, the aviation minister, threw a kite on social media, when he warned the opposition PDP against fielding Jonathan against Tinubu in 2027.
About 24 hours after, the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, while addressing journalists during his media parley, begged Jonathan not to contest the election which he has already said Tinubu would win squarely.
Sources said the Tinubu camp has been worried over the developing story of Jonathan’s intention to contest the election. TNN learnt that the fear became heightened when it became public knowledge that foreign super powers and retired Generals and other top political lords from the north were pushing for the return of Jonathan.
It was gathered that a legal team is being put together to consider the option of approaching the apex court to interpret the amended 1999 constitution as it applies to the legibility of Jonathan to contest, having previously completed the term of his former boss, the late Musa Yar’Adua, before winning his own election to serve between 2011 and 2015.
While the Supreme Court option is on the plate, TNN learnt that Jonathan’s wife, Patience, is also considered as a tool to stop the husband from contesting. They believe that the wife can mount pressure on Jonathan not to consider running against Tinubu.
A minister from one of the south-south states, believed to be close to the Jonathans, is said to have been unleashed on the president’s wife for this purpose.
At the moment, it is beginning to dawn on Tinubu’s men, that there is no legal impediment against Jonathan, if he decides to contest. Already, the court judgement which had cleared him in 2022 is yet to be set aside.
The judgment delivered by Justice Isah Dashem of the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, on May 27, 2022 gave Jonathan a clean bill of health.
However, Jonathan is yet to make up his mind on the matter. Sources close to the former president confided in TNN that consultations were ongoing. “At the appropriate time, it will be known, whether or not he will run.
“People should be calm. The important thing is that Jonathan is fit and qualified to contest the election. Those who are trying to adopt the propaganda option have failed. If he does not run, it would not be because he was not qualified.
“If he runs, it will now also be because people are mounting pressure on him. He will make up his mind once he is done consulting. But just know that some political parties are talking to him.
“Very serious-minded Nigerians are talking to him. Religious leaders are talking to him. Thise who are worried about what is going on in Nigeria today are talking to him to run. The international community is talking to him too. He will make up his mind and the world will hear,” the source said on Monday night.
