By Orjime Moses, Abuja and Abdullahi Olesin, Ilorin, Anayo Onukwugha, Port Harcourt
There is widespread unease within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the speculated ambition of former president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2023 presidential election.
The debate about the Jonathan presidency resurfaced yesterday when former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, lampooned APC governors for allegedly lobbying Jonathan to return after demarketing him in 2015.
But the chairman of APC caretaker committee and governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, refuted the claim that the governing party is seeking to field Jonathan as it presidential candidate in 2023.
This is even as former acting national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, maintained vehemently that no amount of pressure will make Jonathan to join APC.
Although Jonathan had last year described talks of his nursing an ambition in 2023 as being too early, speculations about his political future became a national discourse after some APC governors led by Buni paid the former president a visit at his Abuja residence.
The visit had led to exchange of brickbats between the two major parties.
But while speaking on a TV programme yesterday, Lamido alleged that the APC governors want Jonathan back to power in 2023.
Responding to a question about the former president, Lamido said that the people who want Jonathan back are the APC governors.
“They want to tarnish his image,” the former governor said while featuring in the Arise TV programme yesterday.
He stated: “These were the same people who were Jonathan is this Jonathan is that. They branded him different sorts of names, said things against him but now they want him back. Is it because Buhari failed them or how? This is hypocrisy.
“Jonathan is a humble person who can listen to Nigerians, yet they vilified him as a bad…
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