The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, has said that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan stands a better chance of winning the 2027 election for the party.
Ibrahim Abdullahi said the party is not concerned about zoning than its intention of winning and controlling the power at the center for the country’s development.
Abdullahi said Nigerians have seen that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that blackmailed Jonathan with Boko Haram security challenge has created too many security issues in the country.
He added that Jonathan, since he left office in 2015 has remained the most sought-after politician even by the APC administration of President Bola Tinubu.
“Well, as a political party and as democrats, we are not concerned more in zoning as much as the winning of the election. I have argued that it gets to a level where a serious political party will look at its chances of winning election, which is the most important thing behind every political party.
“It’s formed for the purpose of winning election and taking control of government and providing leadership. Therefore, if we weigh our chances as brighter with Goodluck Jonathan on the ballot, certainly we will go his way.
“He is one of us. He still remains the one person who has accepted that he has lost election, conceded even before counting was over, called the victor, congratulated him and sought his involvement in the transition to hand him over power in 2015.
“That is the only thing you find in the PDP. You can imagine the election that followed in 2019, how desperate it was, how election was said to have been concluded before even going to the poll. People usurped the powers of INEC, coming all out with arrogance and saying that they have won election nothing.
“It’s either you come with them or you have lost it. It was repeated in 2023. So all of this loss of hope and confidence will be addressed by a person who was there before, if Goodluck Jonathan is so favored to take it.
“And I think I’m one of those persons who believe that he is truly deserving an opportunity again because he has demonstrated that he’s a capable and a very, very serious democrat who appreciates the significance of managing a democracy like Nigeria with its heterogeneous and a very complex tendency.”
Abduallhi who said this on Thursday, in Arise TV interview, noted that only Jonathan allowed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to operate freely. He emphasized that the former president has an open-mindedness and understands how to manage the heterogeneous nature of Nigeria.
“He’s one person who has appreciated, who has not shown narrow-mindedness in managing national affairs. So he seemed to have the clout. He is today being looked around in Nigeria by even the opposition parties, including the ruling party.
“They are saying that if this is what it means to have a democracy, then we have wronged PDP and we have wronged Goodluck Jonathan in particular for calling him names, and then we’ve not been able to address the problem after blackmailing him out of power in 2015.
“You will remember that the only security challenge that was deployed seriously against Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP then was the Boko Haram, which was at the fringes of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. But today we have all fronts of security, banditry, farmers-herders clashes, the same Boko Haram, and kidnappers; we’ve not even been able to appreciate the names now that have been used to describe all these monstrous security challenges that the country has been grappling with,” Abdullahi added.