Leaders and key stakeholders in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have intensified moves to win former President Goodluck Jonathan and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi back into the party.
A highly placed party source told THEWHISTLER on Wednesday in Abuja, that the PDP leaders are working towards having a Jonathan-Obi alliance against President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election.
The source, who craved anonymity, said the party stakeholders intend to pick either Jonathan or Obi as the PDP presidential candidate and have the other lead the campaign in the South East or the South-South, depending on who emerged the candidate.
“For instance, if Jonathan becomes the presidential candidate, Obi would be made to lead his campaign in the South East. But if Obi is the one flying the flag, Jonathan would be persuaded to lead the campaign in the South-South.
“Our leaders are working hard to ensure that the two influential politicians remain and work together in the PDP for the party’s victory. It’s all about the rivival and survival of our party beyond 2027.
“It’s obvious the PDP can’t go far in the 2027 presidential election if Jonathan and Obi happen to find themselves in two opposing political platforms,” the source said.
A former Jigawa State Governor and one of the longest serving leaders of the PDP, Alhaji Sule Lamido, confirmed the strategic moves in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday.
The former Jigawa governor said he was fully involved in the efforts to have Jonathan, Obi and other estranged PDP members back in the fold.
Lamido told the BBC that he and other PDP stakeholders have been discussing, not with only Jonathan and Obi, but also, with many other individuals who had been part of the PDP at one point or the other but who have parted ways with the party for one reason or another.
Lamido added that himself and other PDP leaders are similarly discussing with other political leaders who have never been members of the PDP. Such consultations, he said, are geared towards building unity and stability in the polity.
According to him, such discussions with political leaders across party lines are not for personal gain, but to protect democracy and secure a better future for the country.
“We are not acting for selfish reasons. Our aim is to safeguard democracy and ensure Nigeria achieves lasting progress so that life becomes easier for everyone,” Lamido said.
Apart from Obi and Jonathan, Lamido also listed President Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar among the political leaders he has held discussions with,”for the good of country.” Atiku recently dumped the PDP for a relaunched African Democratic Congress (ADC).
“Even if we no longer belong to the same party, we are all Nigerians and share the same hope for this country. Talking with anyone to move Nigeria forward is not a crime,” he said.
The former Jigawa governor explained his recent visit to President Tinubu, saying it was based on past political party affiliation with the president in the days of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic.
“If the president does well, we will commend him. If he makes mistakes, we must tell him the truth so things can be corrected. This is not criticism for its own sake. It’s about making things better,” Lamido said.
Alhaji Lamido has, in recent times, been drumming support for Jonathan’s candidacy in the PDP ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The former president had, until recently, distanced himself from political discussions and affairs of the PDP since he lost his 2015 re-election to the late President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Otuoke, Bayelsa-born former leader has been active in political discourse in recent times, with his interventions typically on the need for a credible electoral process.
While he has kept the public guessing on his next political move, calls are being made to him to relaunch himself back to active partisan politics.
Obi, on the other hand, dumped the PDP in 2022, in the build up to the party’s presidential nomination process for the 2023 election.
He eventually contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party, coming third behind Tinubu and Atiku.
Obi’s party affiliation remains ambiguous at present. The Labour Party, on the platform of which he contested in 2023, is struggling with unresolved divisions arising from leadership crisis.
The leadership crisis in the LP has forced the former Anambra State governor to be hobnobbing with Atiku’s ADC.
Obi had directed his supporters to vote for the candidates of the ADC in the recently conducted state and federal constituency by-elections.
