A close ally of Goodluck Jonathan has claimed that the former president is ready to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Permutations regarding the chances of each candidates likely to throw their hats into the ring have begun in the country.
With power expected to remain in the south for the next four years, some political commentators believe that 2023 candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, might not have the required support and votes to defeat the incumbent, Bola Tinubu.
However, there have been discussions that Jonathan, who was a former vice president under the late Musa Yar’Adua and later became president in 2011, is capable of displacing Tinubu in 2027.
According to a report by Vanguard newspaper, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ally of the former president, said Jonathan has agreed to be drafted to contest on the party’s platform.
The source added that the former president was going into the race to find ways of addressing Nigeria’s rising poverty, hardship and the general suffering that has gripped the citizenry in recent years.
The said ally further claimed that the project to bring back Jonathan to reposition Nigeria was being driven by key Nigerian leaders and elders, who believed the former president stabilised the country and its economy within the six years of his administration.
The source said it was in a bid to rescue the country and restore the dwindling economy and Nigeria to its pride of place, that key PDP leaders and elders started “pleading with him” to consider running against Tinubu in 2027.
Jonathan’s ally said the Bayelsa-born politician has already met behind the scene with some top leaders within and outside the PDP, to consult them and seek their support for the 2027 presidential race.
According to the politician, Jonathan met with former Nigerian military president, General Ibrahim Babangida last weekend in his Hilltop Mansion in Minna, Niger State, and briefed him on his desire to run for one term in 2027.
The report stated that the ally also disclosed Jonathan was also in the South-south consulting and meeting with critical stakeholders, with a view to selling the project to them and soliciting their unflinching support.
The former president is is yet to publicly confirm these speculations.
