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The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has said a former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, does not have the authority of the party to disclose that former President Goodluck Jonathan would become its presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections.
The opposition party said it did not lack presidential materials for the next general election, as there were competent and performing governors from the south that could easily become its presidential candidate, if they so desired.
Gana had at the weekend said Nigerians, having seen the disparity in their lives after eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari and two years under incumbent President Bola Tinubu, now knew better and wanted Jonathan to return.
The minister stated this on Saturday in Minna after the election of new officials by the Niger State chapter of PDP. He also confirmed that Jonathan would contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of PDP.
He had said, “In 2015, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said his ambition is not worth the blood of Nigerians. After him another president ruled for eight years and now another has ruled for two years.
“Nigerians have seen the difference and the difference is very clear. Nigerians are now asking us to bring back our friend, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. “I can confirm that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will contest the presidential election in 2027 as PDP candidate and you will vote for him to return as President again.”
But addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, said the former minster does not have the party’s authority to speak for the opposition party.
Ologunagba stated that the party is focused on its national convention and has qualified candidates to fly its flag in 2027.
He said, “Professor Jerry Gana doesn’t speak for the PDP. I don’t also speak for Professor Jerry Gana. ‘’I don’t speak for Professor Jerry Gana. People can express their opinion. But I will emphasise this. In this party, as we are on Tuesday, President Jonathan is a member, he has not said he’s not a member.
“But I can tell you, on Tuesday, this party has eminently qualified Nigerians, particularly at the governors’ level, who have done exceedingly well, that Nigeria can tap on that and say, step up the place and do the right thing, because their performances in their states show their capacity, which is actually the DNA of the PDP.
‘’So, I don’t speak for President Jonathan. I don’t speak for Jerry Gana, with all due respect. But our party is focused on our convention and when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it. Those should be semantics.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency said Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 elections but warned that his “dismal record in office” remains fresh in the minds of Nigerians. It described as “absurd” the PDP’s strategy to field Jonathan for the presidency on what it called a “discredited platform” which “bequeathed a legacy of economic ruins, after 16 years of bad governance.”
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made these assertions in a statement he signed Monday evening titled, ‘Former President Jonathan is welcome to the race. Nigerians will remember his dismal record in office.’ Onanuga said while the administration “wholeheartedly welcomes” Jonathan to the race, should he decide to run, the former leader would have to contend with both constitutional hurdles and public perception.
He said, “President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes. It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again. “But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land…and will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.”
