Former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has advised ex-President Goodluck Jonathan against re-contesting for the presidency in the 2027 elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme, the former Kaduna Central Senator said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under which Jonathan was first elected in 2011, is no longer united and does not resemble the party the former leader once knew.
“Each time there is an election, the name of Jonathan comes up, but it is his volition to contest. I advise him not to do that. The reason is very simple: the PDP he used to know is not the PDP now,” Sani said.
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According to him, divisions within the PDP and recent alignments with President Bola Tinubu’s administration have weakened the opposition. “The PDP in the South-West is endorsing the president. Some members of the party are in the coalition. So, it is not the party he used to know, and he shouldn’t waste his time,” he added.
Goodluck Jonathan served as Vice President under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua from 2007 until Yar’Adua’s death in 2010. He was subsequently sworn in as president on May 6, 2010, and later won the 2011 election on the PDP platform. Jonathan governed until 2015 when he lost his re-election bid to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Constitutionally, Jonathan is still eligible to serve one more term of four years. However, he has not publicly indicated interest in rejoining the presidential race. Despite this, his possible return has sparked political debate, particularly around calls for a one-term Southern presidency and the emergence of a new opposition coalition spearheaded by the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Opposition Coalition vs. Tinubu’s Leadership
Shehu Sani also commented on the newly formed opposition coalition, questioning its ability to provide a credible alternative to President Tinubu’s administration.
“We are in a democracy, and it is within the ambit of our laws to have an opposition that will provide an alternative. But if their only cause for power is to remove Tinubu without providing any alternative to governance, then they have no agenda,” he stated.
The former lawmaker further argued that the coalition members are not ideologically distinct from Tinubu. “The people that constitute the coalition today are not ideologically and philosophically different from the programmes which the Tinubu administration is prosecuting,” he said, pointing to policies such as subsidy removal and currency devaluation.
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