Indications from the political camp of former President Goodluck Jonathan suggest that he is interested in joining the 2027 presidential race, contrary to earlier reports.

His supporters in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are already working around the clock to sell his candidature to stakeholders.

Sources in Wadata Plaza (PDP National Secretariat) confirmed that high-level consultations are ongoing to woo Jonathan back into active partisan politics. Some northern political elements’ preference for a president who will easily reach compromises, in addition to facilitating the emergence of one of them as a presidential candidate in 2031, is a major motivation for preferring GEJ.

Observers stated yesterday that recent comments by Jonathan, his cousin, Robert Azibaola, and his special adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, are clear indicators of the former president’s ambitions.

Besides, The Nation gathered that Jonathan has been reaching out to influential Nigerians about his plan.

One of those already visited by him is former President Ibrahim Babangida, sources said.

A political ally of the former president said yesterday that Jonathan’s statement on the alleged betrayal that cost him re-election in 2015 was strategic to draw public sympathy.

He said if Jonathan was not interested in the race, it would cost him nothing to make a categorical statement to that effect.

“You find it difficult to see somebody who will say the same thing in the morning and in the evening,” Jonathan said yesterday.

He spoke during the 70th birthday party of his former Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, in Benin, the Edo State capital.

“I’ve witnessed a lot of betrayers, especially during the 2015 elections (which he lost to the late President Muhammadu Buhari), and Mike is somebody who would take a bullet on my behalf.

“He is somebody that you can take his word to the bank. Most other politicians, you cannot take their words to the bank. They will tell you something, the next one hour they are saying another.”

The Jonathan ally who did not want to be named likened the Benin statement to the September 2010 speech by Jonathan, when he was seeking the presidential ticket of the PDP ahead of the 2011 election.

He said on that occasion: “I was not born rich, and in my youth, I never imagined that I would be where I am today, but not once did I even give up. Not once did I imagine that a child from Otueke, a small village in the Niger Delta, would one day rise to the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In my early days in school, I had no shoes, no school bags. I carried my books in my hands but never despaired; no car to take me to school, but I never despaired.

“There were days I had only one meal but I never despaired. I walked miles and crossed rivers to school every day but I never despaired. Didn’t have power, didn’t have generators, studied with lanterns but I never despaired. In spite of these, I finished secondary school, attended the University of Port Harcourt, and now hold a doctorate degree.”

Azibaola and Eze have also been quick in shooting down any suggestion in the media that he would not be contesting in 2027.

Responding to a report last week on why Jonathan might not contest, Azibaola dismissed the story as completely false.

The former President, according to him, “never said he would not contest in 2027. The so-called aide quoted in the publication does not exist.”

He added that while Jonathan has not officially confirmed his intention to run, he has also not ruled himself out.

Earlier this week, he told the Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, and human-rights activist, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, both of whom had commented on Jonathan’s eligibility in 2027, that their opinion was not needed.

His words: “Dear Festus Keyamo (SAN), Chidi Odinkalu (Prof), I greet both of you. For the record, three of us are lawyers. We were all pro-democracy activists in the ’90s, and I was a better activist than both of you combined.

“Rule No. 1: Do not offer legal advice where none is solicited. GEJ (PDP) has numerous, more cerebral, more experienced SANs at his disposal who give him sound, unblemished professional legal advice.

“Please note: GEJ is 100% constitutionally and legally qualified to contest, if he chooses to. If he decides not to yield to the overwhelming calls to run, it will not be because he is unqualified.

“Your unsolicited legal view is not of any concern to him and will never be. Don’t waste your precious time dwelling on this. Or should I schedule a meeting so you can be properly educated on the subsisting court judgments on the matter, one of which your party, APC, was a party to?

“This is not a confirmation that GEJ is running, though.”

On his part, Eze, responding to an article entitled “Jonathan, Don’t Just Run… Please Flee!” by newspaper columnist Chidi Amuta, reeled out Jonathan’s achievements while in office.

He dismissed Amuta’s opinion as an exercise in intellectual revisionism.

Eze said of his boss: “Since leaving office, Dr. Jonathan has become one of Africa’s most respected elder statesmen. He has led multiple peaceful electoral missions across Africa, been recognised internationally for his role in advancing democratic norms, won the prestigious Sunhak 2025 Peace Prize and remains a credible voice on governance across the continent.

“That is not the profile of a ‘problem child’ as Amuta insensitively put it, but that of a model leader who chose country over power, peace over pride.

“Dr. Chidi Amuta’s article is not a critique; it is a careless misrepresentation of a leader whose record continues to speak for itself. Nigerians and history are more discerning than Amuta gives them credit for.”

Party sources said there is no guarantee of an easy ride for him in getting the PDP presidential ticket despite the current moves by his supporters in the party.

One source said the decision of the party to micro-zone the presidential ticket has its own challenges, as the three geopolitical zones in the south will have to agree on how to go about it first.

PDP National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum, Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, Bala Mohammed, Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara and members of the Douye Diri PDP National Zoning Committee, that was set up on Thursday, August 14, affirmed zoning as a major strategy, such that while the party’s November 15-16 national convention will produce a national chairman from the North, comprising North West, North East and North Central, the South, inclusive of South West, South East and South South will produce the party’s 2027 presidential candidate.

The North will conduct its own micro-zoning to determine the specific state to produce the national chairmanship candidate.

A source said: “Micro-zoning is about survival, not sentiment; if we get it wrong, we hand APC the election before the campaign even starts.”

Another party source said Jonathan’s political base in the Southsouth is no longer guaranteed for him in view of political developments in the zone over the last few years.

“Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross River used to be Jonathan’s and PDP’s exclusive property. But now, how many of them are for PDP?”, the source said.

He wondered what magic Jonathan could perform now in any of the states, with the possible exception of his home state, Bayelsa.

He said most of his supporters in Cross River, like former governor Liyel Imoke, have left for the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), while the PDP is no longer the same in Rivers.

The South East, another of his strongholds, is unlikely to vote for him, in the event that Mr. Peter Obi is also on the ballot, said the source.

Obi’s dilemma is similar to Jonathan’s, as the Labour Party, on which platform the former Anambra State governor contested the 2023 presidential election, is currently in disarray, while Obi is still unsure of joining ADC.