Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman, said on Monday, 9 May, that he has not approved a bid to have him seek a ruling party ticket to compete in the presidential elections in 2023.
A group of supporters belonging to Northern Nigeria purchased nomination forms for ex-prez to take part in the current ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC) primary elections that are set to be held at the end of the month.
Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan’s spokesman, stated that the former president, who was in power under the People’s Democratic Party, now in opposition, between 2010-2015, didn’t approve the purchase of nomination forms, which is an essential requirement for candidates who wish to partake in primary elections.
Eze said, “While we respect the overwhelming demand by a cross-section of people of Nigeria for former prez Dr Jonathan to make himself available for the 2023 presidential election, we hope to state that he has not dedicated himself to this request.”
He further stated, “We wish to categorically state that Dr. Jonathan was unaware of this bid and did not allow it.”
Yet, Jonathan has the time period of until next week to give back the nomination form. Assumptions have been building for quite a few months that he has been planning to come back to national politics.
It is very usual for Nigerian politicians to swap sides during elections. Still, it would be a shocking about-turn if the APC decided to welcome a member it once criticised as incompetent when he was on the seat of the president.
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, will step down in 2023 after serving two full terms in power.
Over 20 ruling party candidates have registered to compete for the primary vote.
Registration ended on Tuesday, and a party committee screened the candidates, including vice president Yemi Osinbajo, former Lagos state governor and party heavyweight Bola Tinubu, and several government ministers as well as state governors.
