Former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has publicly declared her support for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027 elections, pledging to campaign alongside the current First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Speaking in Abuja on Saturday night after receiving the Women Icon Leader of the Year award from Accolade Dynamics Limited, Mrs Jonathan dismissed speculations that her husband, former President Goodluck Jonathan, might contest the 2027 presidential election. Instead, she emphasised her personal decision to back the Tinubus, citing long-standing friendship and mutual respect.
“I didn’t just know her (Oluremi Tinubu) because she’s the First Lady, no. We worked together. We worked as a group. We worked when I was a deputy governor’s wife. We worked when I was a governor’s wife,” Mrs Jonathan said.
She recounted how Senator Remi supported her family politically in the past, particularly during Goodluck Jonathan’s rise to the presidency. “Even when my husband was the Vice President, Oluremi stood with her husband and supported us during our first election. They supported us. So, for me, I have a conscience. I cannot abandon my friend, whether you like it or not.”
The former First Lady made it clear that she had no desire to return to the State House, insisting she preferred the peace and rest she currently enjoys outside of political office.
“I’m not running. I’m not going back to the villa. If you call me, I will not go,” she declared. “I say it every day. Don’t you like how young I look? People say, ‘Mama, you are young, you are young!’ It is because I have rest of mind, yes. I don’t want to go there, let my friend be there.”
Emphasising the natural order of political succession, she added: “Because you see, this is turn by turn. Today is my turn, I will go. Tomorrow, it will be another person’s turn, then we go. And when we go, will we still meet? Where will we meet? I don’t know.”
Mrs Jonathan’s open endorsement of the Tinubu administration came as a surprise to many political observers, especially given her prominent role in the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during her husband’s presidency.
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