The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has disowned claims by Jerry Gana, a former minister of information, that ex president Goodluck Jonathan will contest the 2027 presidential election on its platform.

 

 

 

Gana had told supporters last week that Jonathan would run as the PDP candidate and defeat President Bola Tinubu at the polls. However, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Monday, party spokesperson Debo Ologunagba dismissed the statement, stressing that Gana was speaking for himself.

 

 

 

 

 

“Professor Jerry Gana doesn’t speak for the PDP. I don’t also speak for professor Jerry Gana,” Ologunagba said. “People can express their opinion. But I will emphasise this.” Ologunagba noted that Jonathan remains a PDP member but has never publicly declared any intention to run. He added that the party has “eminently qualified Nigerians, particularly at the governors’ level, who have done exceedingly well” and are capable of stepping forward when the time comes. “So, I don’t speak for President Jonathan. I don’t speak for Jerry Gana, with all due respect,” he said. “But our party is focused on our convention, and when we get to that bridge, we’ll cross it.”

 

 

 

The presidency has already described Gana’s remarks as “absurd,” accusing him of trying to lure Jonathan into the race for “personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests.”

 

 

 

Jonathan attended a coalition meeting of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Abuja last week, but has remained silent on speculation about his 2027 ambitions. Several PDP figures, including Gana, Bauchi governor Bala Mohammed, and Senator Abba Moro, have said the party is wooing Jonathan to return as its flag bearer.

 

 

 

Jonathan, who assumed office in 2010 after the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and won a full four year term in 2011, is still constitutionally entitled to contest for one more term.