Former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, and ex-presidential aspirant on the platform of African Democratic Party, ADP, Mathias Tsado, disagreed yesterday over whether or not former President Goodluck Jonathan should contest the 2027 elections.
While Sani advised the former president not to yield to pressures to contest the election, warning that such a move could undermine the respect and honour he currently enjoyed within and outside the country, Tsado asked his associates to prevail on him to run, arguing that he (Jonathan) possessed the qualities needed to reposition the country.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Sani noted that the internal wrangling within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the defection of some of its governors and lawmakers to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, were strong reasons he should resist the temptation of returning to partisan politics.
“Even in previous election cycles like 2019 and 2023, similar calls were made for Jonathan to return, but he wisely declined after foreseeing the risks it could pose to his image and legacy,” the former lawmaker said.
According to him, Jonathan’s stature as a respected statesman will be better preserved if he stayed away from the current political fray.
“The PDP of today is not the same party that brought him to power. The crisis within it shows clearly that it is no longer the PDP he once knew,” Sani added.
On his part, Tsado, in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, yesterday, said: “Yes, he has not declared that he wants to run for election, but for somebody like me, I am praying for a day that will come, when President Goodluck Jonathan will declare and say, ‘I want to run’.
“Those who have his contacts, those who have access to him, should speak to him. They should point out the other rumours around in 2023 that he was going to run and all that. There were rumours, but this time around, they should tell him], ‘Please come around, sir, because Nigerian people today need you’.”
Tsado believed Jonathan demonstrated statesmanship by conceding defeat to Buhari in 2015, a sign that he was not desperate for power.
“In fact, he demonstrated he’s not somebody who is desperate to be in government. You remember when he said his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, and someone said recently that President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election in 2015 but gained the people. At the moment, I think that is what is working for him,” he said.
According to him, Jonathan has attained a position many politicians in the country are aspiring to be
“You see, the position that President Goodluck, former President Goodluck Jonathan, finds himself today is a position that most politicians are yearning for,” he said.
