The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected former President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for 2027 presidency insisting no invite had been extended to him to contest under its platform.
Speaking with BBC Hausa, Deputy Spokesperson of the PDP, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said no ticket has been issued to the former president as has been rumoured.
In the last few weeks, posters of Jonathan have been pasted across some northern states including Kano State indicating he would contest on the platform of the PDP.
It’s not dissimilar to 2023 when campaign posters were pasted across the country notably in the Federal Capital Territory by some supporters of the former president who said he had the answers to the crises in the country.
Several groups canvassed for support for Jonathan while the former president received various groups at his Abuja residence who paid him a solidarity visit to force him into the race.
A northern coalition went as far as splurging N100m to purchase the forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Bayelsa politician.
It took several weeks for Jonathan to finally decide that he was not going to contest.
The resurgence of calls for him to indicate his interest early which began in Kano has been predicated on the fact that Jonathan will do only one term and leave the north to take over as anger in the north over policies from the administration of Bola Tinubu continue to boil.
Although Jonathan has yet to react to the development, Abdullahi however insisted that the party has many eligible people who can contest for the presidency on its platform.
“The report that PDP has issued its presidential ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan or invited him to contest the 2027 presidential election is not true,” he said.
“What happened is this, I had an interview with a journalist where we discussed some issues.
“But in the course of the interview, he mentioned President Jonathan, asking about our opinion of him, because there are reports that he is being urged to run for the presidency.
“I responded by saying that he (Jonathan) is eligible to contest the election, because he is a Nigerian and has the right to do that by the provision of the law, and he still has one more term left.
“So, there is nothing wrong about him contesting the presidential election because he is eligible in the face of the law.”
The deputy spokesperson said the ticket would be given to someone who has shown interest in running for the presidency.