The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has mocked the Peoples Democratic Party over reports of planning to field former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate in the 2027 presidential election.
Naija News understands that some northern elites and politicians who are displeased with President Bola Tinubu’s administration have been calling for Jonathan to return to the presidency.
However, APC stated that the opposition was showing signs of desperation.
Speaking in an interview with Punch, the National Director of Publicity for the party, Bala Ibrahim, warned that should Jonathan accept to run against Tinubu on the platform of the opposition party in the next election, he would taste the bitter pill of defeat again.
He said, “For us to start talking about 2027 is not only premature, but a calculation that is doomed. Less than 40 per cent of the mandate given to the President under the APC has not even been consumed. There is just no way the APC as a party will be jittery, if at all, there is such plan to enrol former President Goodluck Jonathan into the race.
“The APC defeated him when he was in power. Defeating him when he’s out of power will be a walkover. It is something that cannot even give the party a sleepless night. So, whoever is making this permutation, if the intention is to scare the APC as a party, I think he needs to go back to the drawing board and think again. We are not worried.
“As I said, let’s get to the river before we start thinking of crossing it. It is too early to start talking about 2027. But if you bring 10 former President Jonathan, they cannot defeat the APC as of today.”
When told that a larger section of political analysts believe the APC defeated Jonathan only because of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cult-like followership across the country in 2015, Ibrahim laughed.
“The truth is that the APC defeated Goodluck Jonathan when the President (Tinubu) was the leader of the party. The APC will defeat him again now that Tinubu is the President and the leader of the party. It is not the Buhari’s cult followership that matters. It is the party arrangement. Buhari did not contest on an independent candidature status.
“Forget about the shenanigans that are on display now. When it’s time for election, the party will readily package its candidate and matches them for the consumption of the people. And I assure you that the people will buy it. But it is too early to start discussing this. But you know politicians for who they are.
“They always want to heat up the politics so that they keep seeing things as relevant. But in a four-year term, the president has just done slightly above one year and you are already thinking of somebody to bring in. No problem, democracy permits people to test the waters. But we will do things when it is time for them to be done,” he stated.