Barely 2 days after disassociating himself from moves by the Fulani pastoralists and Almajiri communities to draft him into the 2023 presidential race, former President Goodluck Jonathan seems to have finally has finally made up his mind to contest for the presidency on the platform of the APC.
On May 9, Jonathan issued a statement rejecting presidential expression of interest and nomination forms bought for him by people as an insult for people to buy the form for him without his consent.
AFTER two hours of meeting with leaders and members of Fulani community, who procured the N100 million presidential nomination forms for him, former President Goodluck Jonathan has finally made up his mind to run, according to sources.
The former president reportedly met with the Fulani pastoralists between 11p.m on Monday and 1a.m on Tuesday to sort out issues regarding their purchase of the presidential nomination forms without his consent, a development, which made him to reject the offer and denounce those involved in the action.
According to the PM News, a source in Jonathan’s camp, who pleaded anonymity said that the former president had indeed, joined the APC formally, having registered at his Otuoke Ward in Bayelsa.
The source disclosed that Jonathan was expected to submit his completed APC expression of interest and nomination forms bought for him earlier in the week by Fulani groups and pastoralist communities on Thursday.
According to the source, the former president has secured the support of the required number of APC delegates from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Several bigwigs of the party have also been calling Jonathan to pledge their loyalty and support to the former president,’’ the source revealed.
The source told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) late on Wednesday that some influential African leaders had called Jonathan earlier on Monday to advise him “to contest the election in the interest of Nigeria.
“At least three top African leaders called the former president on the matter. They all urged him to run.
“One of them specifically told him that it didn’t make sense travelling all over Africa settling disputes only to shy away from leadership responsibility in his home country.
“Another reminded him of the implication of failing to put the experiences he garnered as a former Nigerian president and as a continental statesman to good use,” the source added but did not mention the names of the African leaders.
The source cited some of the African leaders as telling Jonathan that Nigeria was passing through challenging times and “needed a unifier like Jonathan at this time’’.
Official confirmation of these developments are being awaited. There are also signals that the deadline for submission of forms may also be extended to accommodate candidates that are yet to do so.