The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s invitation to former President, Goodluck Jonathan, to run for president in the 2027 presidential election on its platform.
Naija News reported that the PDP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, recently said the party had eagerly awaited Jonathan’s return for a second term.
Abdullahi noted that it would be regrettable if Jonathan chose another party for his presidential bid.
However, in an interview with Punch, the APC’s National Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, said the former president would face another defeat if he responded to the call.
According to him, the APC will not be jittery about the ex-president’s enrolment in the 2027 race, stressing that 10 of Goodluck Jonathans will not defeat President Bola Tinubu.
He said, “There is just no way the APC will be jittery, if at all, there is such a 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, I think he needs to go back to the drawing board and think again. We are not worried.
“However, I think it is too premature for us to be talking about 2027. After all, less than 40 per cent of the mandate given to the president under APC has not even been consumed. Let’s get to the river before we start thinking of crossing it. But if you bring 10 former President Jonathans, they cannot defeat the APC as of today.
“The APC defeated Goodluck Jonathan when the president 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 Buhari’s cult followership that matters. It is the party arrangement. Buhari did not contest on independent candidature status.”
Recall that in 2015, Jonathan ran on the platform of the PDP but was defeated by the APC flag bearer, Muhammadu Buhari, in the presidential election.
Buhari polled 15,424,921 votes to relegate the ex-president, who garnered 12,853,162 votes, to second place.
The election marked the first time an incumbent president had lost re-election in Nigeria.