Why Goodluck Jonathan Should Reject Calls to Join 2027 Presidential Race

• Leaders and key stakeholders in the PDP and ADC have reportedly intensified moves to win former President Goodluck Jonathan into their respective parties
• The opposition leaders are allegedly working towards having a Jonathan presidential ticket against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election
• In this report, Legit.ng analyses why Jonathan should reject calls to join 2027 presidential race

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics, election, and governance in Nigeria.

FCT, Abuja - A lot of Nigerians are still anxiously waiting to hear and know if former President Goodluck Jonathan will yield to pressure and join the 2027 election presidential race.

Legit.ng understands that northern political strategists are reading the national mood and seeing a path to reclaim power in 2031 without fracturing Nigeria’s fragile regional equilibrium.

The consensus in the political forecast is that the south is entitled to eight uninterrupted years after late Muhammadu Buhari’s northern presidency ended in 2023. As a result, chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) have made moves to woo Otuoke-born Jonathan to contest the party’s presidential ticket by meeting him personally.

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Jonathan, who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015, is eligible to run for the highest office in the land in the 2027 election. A court had cleared the obstacle to his being sworn in for the third time as president.

Critics had cited Section 137(3) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which provides that no elected person into public office in Nigeria shall be sworn-in more than twice, basing their argument on the former president’s swearing-in in 2010 after his predecessor, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, died in office, and 2011 when he won his own election. He left office in 2015 after losing reelection and the section 137(3) was not law until 2018, three years later, triggering the argument on whether or not the law can apply to him retroactively.

Per the judgment of the federal high court Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, which heard the case and the trial judge, Justice Isa Dashen, while reviewing the submissions made before him on May 27, 2022, quoted copiously from the counter-affidavit in which Jonathan made his case, saying he could not be legally stopped from participating in presidential election in the future based on Section 137(3) of the constitution.

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Despite his clearance, Legit.ng looks at why Jonathan should reject calls to join the 2027 presidential race.

Lenses Jonathan could look from

It is believed that Jonathan would not allow the disruption of the south solidarity. The 67-year-old will not abandon his statesmanly status to return to politics.

In the same vein, in August, a report by The Nation cited a source close to the former president as saying he is under pressure from political aassociates to accept another shot at the Aso Rock job, but he has resolved to stay out of the race.

Jonathan, the sources said, "is an international statesman and he is satisfied playing that role."

Read more on Goodluck Jonathan:

• 2027 election: New twist as Goodluck Jonathan, Rabu Kwankwaso reportedly deepen negotiations
• 2027 presidency battle: South-South PDP divided as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan's plot to return deepens
• Wike speaks on return of Goodluck Jonathan in 2027 election: “For Christ’s sake"
• 2027 election: Jonathan speaks on INEC chairman appointment process, mentions what must be done

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Trump allegedly backing Jonathan

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that ahead of the 2027 election, Primate Elijah Ayodele claimed that President Donald Trump of the United States (US) is planning to use Jonathan against President Bola Tinubu.

Ayodele, the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church (IESC), Lagos, alleged that Trump is "desperate", urging the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to be wary.

Source: Legit.ng