The latest move by former President, Goodluck Jonathan, to ensure that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, regains its lost glory to wrestle power off the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, in 2019, is generating ripples in the Presidency.
Jonathan, remains the only past Nigerian President that still holds a political party membership card, looking strong for another opportunity to seek popular mandate.
Recall, that former Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo, Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Ernest Shonekan, have claimed not to belong to any political party.
Sources within the PDP, revealed that Jonathan had returned to public view, in order to make effort at healing the wounds in the PDP.
Observers say Jonathan, a potent factor and force to reckon with, had resolved not to detach himself from serious political activities, in order to remain relevant.
Similarly, pundits view his return to the public glare and his positive pronouncements about the PDP, as a bid to cure the party’s ailments, in order to play a crucial role in the emergence of its Presidential candidate in 2019.
Insinuations were ripe on the social media, that Jonathan was scheming to take another shot at the Presidency, despite the ticket being zoned to the North, but his Media Aide, Ikechukwu Eze, dispelled the claim.
Pundits believe that even if Jonathan does not make an attempt in 2019, there is the tendency for him to do so in 2023, considering the fact that age, energy, and resources, are still on his side.
The party’s Board of Trustee, BoT, member and former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, disclosed that Jonathan is only interested in resolving the internal brawl, and re-focusing the party for victory in future elections, hence his series of meeting with various stakeholders.
Recall also, that Jonathan had on the night of August 4, 2016, held a meeting with members of the PDP Board of Trustees, led by Senator Walid Jibrin, at his (Jonathan) residence in Abuja, where he accepted to broker peace in the party.
The ex-President received the National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, with members of his National Working Committee, NWC, at his Abuja residence, on February 21, where they held a closed-door meeting on the soul of the party.
Speaking with Newsmen after the meeting, Jonathan said: “We are solving our problems. There are bound to be differences in politics. It is the way we resolve these differences that makes us human beings, and that is what makes us leaders.
“We are not factionalised, we are one. I have met with Sheriff and I have met with others. I will meet with others again, so that we will be able to do what is expected of us as a political party.”
Elsewhere, the PDP Women’s Forum which also visited Jonathan in his Abuja office, last Monday, said the former President remained the leading light for the party.
They commended the role being played by the former President, towards resolving the party’s crisis. Leader of the group, Senator Biodun Olujimi, a former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State and Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, said they were completely in support of Jonathan’s efforts to resolve the crisis in the PDP.
In a statement issued by his Media Aide, Ikechukwu Eze, the former President said all the relevant stakeholders and organs of the party had met with him.
“It is instructive to note that since the meeting with the Governors, ex-President Jonathan has also met with many other key leaders of the party, including the Chairman of BoT, Sen. Walid Jibrin; deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff; and Senator Ahmed Makarfi, in line with his resolve to carry all the organs of the party along.”
Only time that will tell whether Jonathan’s meetings are only meant to mend fences, or to further strengthen his political roots for future use.