The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed speculation that former President Goodluck Jonathan intends to contest the 2027 presidential election, saying the ex-president has never discussed such plans with him.
Wike made this known whilst speaking to journalists during a media parley in Abuja on Friday, addressing mounting rumours about Jonathan’s alleged return to the presidential race.
“You’re the one telling me here. Jonathan has never told me; he has never called me one day that, look, I’m being pressured to run, what’s your thinking? If he calls me and asks me, I will be able to tell him my mind and what I feel,” Wike stated.
The FCT minister cautioned against accepting newspaper reports as fact, drawing parallels to previous false stories about his movements.
“I will not because you people put something on the pages of the newspapers — just like you said they flew me out of the country — then, I now assume it’s correct,” he added.
On the recent endorsement of former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, as the consensus candidate for the position of National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Wike distanced himself from the development entirely.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction — it’s not the PDP I know,” the minister declared.
Northern stakeholders within the PDP had recently endorsed Turaki ahead of the party’s national convention scheduled for November 15–16 in Ibadan, Oyo State.
However, Wike dismissed the forthcoming convention as unlawful and hinted he would not be attending the event.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?” he queried.
The speculation surrounding Jonathan’s 2027 ambitions comes amid reports that the former president is facing intense pressure from influential figures in the Niger Delta to abandon any presidential bid and instead support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
According to reports, the pressure is being led by prominent Niger Delta personalities, including former militant leader Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.
Some of Jonathan’s kinsmen from the Niger Delta region have also reportedly urged him to shelve any plans to return to Aso Rock and throw his weight behind Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Jonathan served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015, losing the presidential election to then opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
