There are emerging indications that former President Goodluck Jonathan may face the risk of second ‘rejection’ at the polls after he might have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 presidential election. A source close to the APC leadership and the Nigerian Presidency, who sought anonymity, alleged that northern leaders are not willing to rotate the presidency to the south, but desirous to retain power in the north after the 2023 general elections. The source added that the north, just like in 2015, does not care if the opposition party wins the 2023 presidential election, as long as a northern candidate wins.
There is, however, the innuendo that the north wants Jonathan as the APC candidate to fulfill the obligation of power shift to the south in 2023, in which the former president will serve for only one term and power will return to the north, thereafter. This was insinuated to be the political calculation for the pressure on former President Jonathan to dump the PDP for the APC, and subsequently, be given the presidential ticket.
Inquiries by National Daily revealed that the game plan in dragging former President Jonathan to the ruling APC is still hazy. While the negotiation between former President Jonathan and the northern elite has not been made public even as the pressure for defection accelerates, some stakeholders are beginning to express pessimism over the burden of trust and sincerity, essentially, after the 2015 experience. This is more so as notable APC leaders like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who worked assiduously for the formation and growth of the ruling party seem not to be hypothetically considered for the APC presidential ticket, in the place of a newcomer to the party. Invariably, there is high fear of trust deficit and mutual suspicion in the APC defection arrangement with Jonathan.
Meanwhile, the northern elites were alleged to be contemplating on sponsoring former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election. The leaders were also alleged to be plotting to drag former President Jonathan into the APC for the presidential election to give a semblance of a contest between a northern and a southern presidential candidate in the election on the platforms of the two dominant parties in the country.
Our source alleged that while the north may be pushing former President Jonathan, the elite intend to turn in favour of Atiku and shift their mass votes to the PDP candidate to ensure power remains in the north in 2023.
Meanwhile, in further inquiries by National Daily, some APC stakeholders dismissed the insinuation of betraying former President Jonathan in the 2023 presidential election as mere imagination of conspiracy theory. The stakeholders told National Daily that the ruling APC is committed to promoting equity and fairness in the country. They maintained that APC leaders have no reason to compromise the 2023 elections or lose power to the opposition. They insisted that the party is determined to consolidate on what is being achieved after eight years under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The stakeholders, however, stated that the ruling party would need a credible candidate for the 2023 presidential election, adding that the presidential candidate would emerge at the APC national convention. They said that no one can definitely say who the APC presidential candidate would be at this time, noting that the aspirants in the race are men who have track records of leadership. They assured that the APC would present a qualified and credible presidential candidate in 2023, urging Nigerians to wait for the party’s choice at the presidential primaries.