Former President Goodluck Jonathan has reaffirmed his commitment to the Peoples Democratic Party as the party intensifies preparations for the 2027 general elections.
The party’s National Working Committee, led by Tanimu Turaki, made this known on Tuesday in Abuja after a visit to Jonathan at his office.
Speaking to journalists after a closed-door meeting that lasted about two hours, Turaki outlined the purpose of the visit by the party leadership.
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.”
Responding to questions on whether Jonathan expressed concerns over the party’s legal disputes and their possible impact on the Ekiti and Osun elections, Turaki said the former president was fully briefed.
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.”
On the issue of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the recognition of PDP candidates, Turaki questioned the neutrality of the electoral body, alleging that the commission restricted the party’s access to its online portal after initially granting it.
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?”
The meeting was attended by members of the NWC, former governors and ministers on the party’s platform, founding fathers and mothers, as well as other key stakeholders of the PDP.
