Jonathan Pledges Support to PDP Ahead of 2027 Elections

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has assured the Peoples Democratic Par­ty (PDP) of his support ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The National Working Committee (NWC) led by Tanimu Turaki disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, when it visited Jonathan in his office.

Addressing newsmen shortly after a closed door meeting with Jonathan that lasted for two hours, Turaki explained why the party leaders visited the former president.

Turaki said: “We came this evening to visit one of our very important leader, former President of Nigeria, President Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, PhD. ­

“First, to introduce members of the newly elected National Working Committee to him, and then to tell him what we’ve been doing since our election at the national convention that was held last November in Ibadan.

“We’ve briefed him on the state of the party, the challenges, the prospects, and in this visit, we are accompanied by former governors, members of the Board of Trustees, founding fathers and founding mothers, Forum of State Chairmen, in addition to other leaders of the party that also include former ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We have solicited, as usual, for his support, for his guidance, for his advice, as always. And we have his assurance that he’s still a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party, he’s still active, and will even be more active these days in the activities and affairs of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party.

“And he has assured us that PDP has done everything for him that can be done to an individual, and that he still feels that he re­mains obligated to PDP.

“And his remarks and state­ments are not only reassuring, but indeed they are very, very en­couraging as we begin to prepare for elections, off-season elections in Ekiti and Osun this year and 2027 general elections.”

Asked if Jonathan is worried about the legal battles and other issues confronting the party will affect the upcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun, Turaki said that Jonathan was duly informed.

He said: “I did say that we in­formed him about the prospects and challenges and part of the challenges are the legal battles that we are facing and as a senior law­yer I have been able also to explain to him the nitty-gritty of the mat­ters that we are doing at the Court of Appeal and the prospects as far as the party is concerned and he is duly informed, and notwithstand­ing that he still believes just like all of us do, that PDP is the party for Nigerians.”

Asked if the party has sort out with INEC the issue of recognition of its candidate, Turaki questioned the independence of the commis­sion, adding that INEC, which ear­lier gave them password to access their portal, blocked them from accessing the platform again to upload that data.

He said: “I have said this sever­al times. We do not have problem with the recognition with INEC. We had sent notice of primaries to elect a gubernatorial flag bearer in Ekiti State to INEC.

“INEC followed, INEC attend­ed, INEC monitored, INEC wrote a report. INEC also gave us the password to access their portal to upload the data of our candidate and his running mate. And we duly accessed and then were able now to download the forms for our candidate.

“We gave it to him, he printed and we now submitted. Some­where along the line, and I hate to say this but I must say it, some­where along the line INEC now blocked us from accessing the platform again to upload that data. But we had done manual submis­sion to INEC. Which INEC has collected.

“Now outside the Ekiti, we had also corresponded with INEC, told them about our primaries in Osun State. INEC sent their team, they attended, they monitored our pri­maries, and they wrote a report. And the candidate had emerged.

“So as far as I was concerned, as far as events that political parties carry out that demand statutory notice of concern, is that the obli­gation to displace on the shoulders of any political party is to give those statutory notices, which we get.

“Now INEC as a regulator has the discretion to attend or to refuse to attend. So when we now issue notices, and INEC honoured those notices, and INEC attended, and INEC monitored, and INEC wrote a report. So what is there left for anybody then to assume that indeed INEC had recognised this leadership.

“So as far as I was concerned, INEC has indeed recognised this leadership. And we continue to maintain that INEC has rec­ognised this leadership. But we do understand that there are certain events that are beginning to raise doubt in our minds and in the minds of other people, whether this present INEC leadership is indeed independent?”

In attendance during the visit were NWC members, former gov­ernors and ministers on the plat­form of the party, founding fathers, mothers and other stakeholders of the party.