2027: Coalition Woos Ex-President Jonathan

Indications emerged yesterday that proponents of the coalition movement plan to engage former President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2027 election.

It was learnt that some   political associates and friends of the former president have engaged to lobby him.

A source close to the workings of the political permutations around the former president described the move as “well coordinated efforts” even though he did not disclose if the efforts were already yielding results.

According to the source, two leading lights in the coalition arrangements, former senate President David Mark as immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai are likely to meet with Jonathan within the week to continue with the discussions.

Mark is poised to become the acting national chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) which is said to be one of parties likely to be adopted by the coalition ahead of 2027.

The anticipated meeting is said to be brokered by an associate of the former president who is a member of the House of Representatives and a strong force in the Green Movement, a political group founded by the former president about 20 years ago.

Recall that the former first lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan had disclosed that her husband will not run for the Presidency in 2027.

However, as part of the process to woo Jonathan into the race, the coalition forces were said to have brokered a truce amongst stakeholders in Jonathan’s home state, Bayelsa.

The source, said two former governors of the state as well as top appointee in Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were reconciled of their differences.

The reconciliation efforts reached a high point last week when the NDDC top official  visited Bayelsa for an official function.

“You know the two former governors have never been friends politically. If you recall one of the governors was not having a good relationship with Jonathan even though the former president was instrumental in making him governor to the detriment of the other one. And if you recall, the NDDC top man is a political son of one of the former governors; in fact, he was his chief of staff.

“So when we did our findings, we discovered that the current governor Diri has already finalised arrangements to defect to the APC and for one of the former governors this is political suicide because it will retire him.

“Even the NDDC top man is not disposed to Diri coming to APC because he wants to be governor and he is convinced Diri’s defection to APC will truncate that ambition; so he is also looking at a fresh platform and that is why he was open to reconciling with the other former governor so that they can be same page.”

The source said one of the  former governors is not inclined to join APC even as he is mindful of potential legal dangers that might jeopardise his career in his current party.

“All those Jonathan’s associates who were members of the Green Movement in Bayelsa have this same feeling and that is why they are inclined towards the coalition.”

LEADERSHIP had reported that a senator and four House of Representatives members from Bayelsa State rejected overtures from Governor Diri to join them in defecting to the ruling APC.

Governor Diri has reportedly finalised arrangements to defect even as he had met with stakeholders both in Bayelsa and the wider Ijaw nationality enclave.

He is said to have secured commitment and assurances from members of the State House of Assembly that they would defect with him.

But the obstacle has been the defiance of the federal lawmakers.

The lawmakers are Senator Henry Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West), Hon Fred Agbedi(Sagbama/Ekeremor), Mitema Obodor(Ogbia) and Marie Ebikake(Nembe/Brass)-all from Bayelsa.