Fresh indications have emerged regarding the mounting pressure on former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2027 presidential election, despite his reluctance to return to active politics.
Jonathan, who served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015, lost his re-election bid to Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 general elections, marking the first time an incumbent president was defeated at the polls in Nigeria’s history.
Sources close to the former president revealed that his Abuja residence has in recent weeks become a meeting point for political associates and supporters urging him to throw his hat into the ring.
However, Jonathan is said to have resisted the appeals, describing the push as self-serving and not in the best interest of national unity.
According to insiders, Jonathan has maintained that he will not allow himself to be used as a tool to undermine Southern solidarity. He reportedly insists that the South should be allowed to complete its turn of eight years in power before the presidency shifts back to the North.
“Dr. Jonathan believes he has played his part and it is time for others to do theirs,” one source disclosed, adding that while he has privately dismissed the idea of contesting, he has chosen not to issue a public statement on the matter.
Speculation about Jonathan’s possible return intensified within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially following the zoning of the party’s 2027 presidential ticket to the South. Some party stakeholders are said to view Jonathan as a strategic option, given that he would serve only one term if elected.
However, hints about Jonathan’s position surfaced earlier in May when his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, stated that her husband would not be running in 2027.
She explained that Jonathan would rather support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s second term bid, citing Tinubu’s support for her husband during the 2011 elections. She also pledged support for the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Initiative.
