Why Jonathan won’t run against Tinubu in 2027 – Patience

Wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has ruled out the possibility of her husband joining the 2027 presidential race to contest against President Bola Tinubu.

Mrs Jonathan said rather than contest, her family would campaign for Tinubu’s re-election because Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi, supported Jonathan’s 2011 presidential bid.

Mrs Jonathan, whose husband left office in 2015 after being defeated by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke on Saturday during the Women Icon Leader of the Year Award organised by Accolade Dynamics Limited in Abuja.

Since leaving office in 2015, there have been calls on Jonathan to return to the Presidency every election cycle.

The latest call was made in April this year by the President of the Nigeria Rescue Mission Organisation, Dr Jibril Mustapha, who urged Jonathan to heed the calls to run for the office of the President.

“As the nation prepares for the 2027 elections, the Nigeria Rescue Mission Organisation believes that now is the time for all stakeholders to come together and support a candidate who can genuinely represent the interests of all Nigerians.

“We urge former President Goodluck Jonathan to consider this call and to step forward as a candidate who can unite our country and lead us towards a brighter future,” Mustapha said in a statement.

However, speaking on Saturday at the Abuja event, which had the daughter of President Tinubu, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, in attendance, Mrs Patience rejected the call on her husband to return to the presidential race, saying she would rather support Tinubu’s re-election in the spirit of “turn-by-turn”.

She said, “I was supposed to call her (Tinubu’s daughter) first, but I saved her for last: the daughter of our wonderful President, the President of Nigeria, the one and only we believe in—President Bola Tinubu. Iyaloja, thank you for standing with women because these are your women. Carry them along; they are with you.

“All the way, we are with you. No shaking. We will follow. Direct us, and we will follow because there is only one President at a time. We don’t have two Presidents. I am outspoken—if I don’t like something, I will say it. But if I like something, I die with it.

“I believe in one President. I believe in turn by turn. When it’s your turn, I will support you. When it’s not your turn, step back—so that the country can move forward.”

Speaking further, she said she has a longstanding relationship with Remi Tinubu that predates their time in Aso Rock.

Mrs Jonathan recalled how Oluremi Tinubu and President Tinubu supported her and her husband when they contested for the President in 2011.