1 month ago
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The 2027 statesmanlike ambition of erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan appears to beryllium gathering momentum arsenic a erstwhile politician of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has been appointed to pb the erstwhile president’s consultation squad successful the South-West, it has been learnt.
Jonathan, who archetypal became Nigeria’s president successful 2010 pursuing the decease of his boss, the precocious Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was elected successful 2011 but mislaid his re-election bid to the precocious Muhammadu Buhari successful 2015.
Although the erstwhile president has remained soundless connected his adjacent governmental move, sources adjacent to him disclosed that helium has been holding discreet consultations up of 2027.
“The erstwhile President does not privation to hastily state his intention. He is inactive weighing his chances and volition lone propulsion his chapeau successful the ringing erstwhile helium is convinced the likelihood favour him,” a root acquainted with the improvement said.
Calls and substance messages sent to Mimiko’s telephone fig were neither answered nor replied to as of press time.
It was further learnt that immoderate influential figures successful the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) person been persuading Jonathan to see moving connected their respective platforms.
It volition beryllium recalled that Jonathan precocious held a closed-door gathering with the National Chairman of the ADC, Senator David Mark. Although details of the gathering were nether wraps, enactment insiders said the treatment centred connected Jonathan’s imaginable instrumentality to the statesmanlike contention successful 2027.
A faction wrong the ADC is reportedly advocating that the party’s statesmanlike summons beryllium zoned to the South, to let the portion to implicit an eight-year tenure earlier powerfulness returns to the North.
According to sources, this program is portion of the crushed immoderate ADC leaders are pushing for Jonathan, who would lone beryllium eligible to service a azygous four-year word to articulation the race.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s estranged state and erstwhile politician of Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola, is said to beryllium starring the battalion of ADC leaders pushing for the southbound to implicit 8 years.
It was besides gathered that Aregbesola was said to person suggested Mimiko’s sanction to Jonathan to pb his South-West consultation, arsenic his ain presumption successful the party’s nationalist enforcement committee would marque it hard for him to bash so.
Mimiko and Jonathan stock a long-standing governmental narration that dates backmost to erstwhile some served arsenic politician and president respectively. In 2012, Jonathan was accused by the Ondo State section of the PDP of tacitly supporting Mimiko’s re-election bid nether the Labour Party.
When Mimiko defected to the PDP successful precocious 2014, helium was appointed to caput Jonathan’s South-West run squad for the 2015 statesmanlike election.
Since leaving office, Mimiko has traversed respective governmental platforms. He contested the Ondo Central senatorial spot nether the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) successful 2019 but lost. Before the 2023 elections, helium returned to the PDP and became aligned with the faction led by the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike.
After the 2023 polls, galore of Mimiko’s governmental associates, including immoderate of his erstwhile commissioners, defected en masse to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) successful Ondo State.
However, sources said Mimiko himself has remained politically inactive, arsenic alleged absorption from immoderate almighty interests wrong the presidency frustrated his determination to formally articulation the APC.
It was learnt that Mimiko’s caller relation arsenic Jonathan’s South-West frontman is to consult Yoruba accepted rulers, spiritual leaders, and different cardinal stakeholders crossed the portion to gauge their disposition towards a imaginable Jonathan statesmanlike bid.
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