Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has stated that former President Goodluck Jonathan has never discussed with him any intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, despite widespread speculation about a possible political comeback.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, October 24, during a media interaction, Wike addressed mounting rumors that Jonathan is facing pressure from various political quarters to enter 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?” Wike explained. “If he calls me and asks me, I will be able to tell him my mind and what I feel.”
The minister emphasized that he refuses to validate speculation simply because it appears in media reports, suggesting he would need direct communication from the former president before forming any opinion on the matter.
Wike’s comments come amid reports suggesting Jonathan is experiencing significant pressure to abandon any presidential ambitions and instead throw his support behind President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign in 2027.
Turning to internal Peoples Democratic Party affairs, Wike distanced himself entirely from the recent endorsement of Kabiru Tanimu Turaki as the party’s consensus candidate for National Chairman. PDP Northern stakeholders selected the former Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs to lead the party ahead of its scheduled national convention on November 15-16.
Wike questioned the legitimacy of both Turaki’s candidacy and the planned convention itself.
“I don’t know about Tanimu Turaki becoming chairman; maybe he becomes chairman for another faction—it’s not the PDP I know,” he stated, suggesting the development pertains to a splinter group rather than the party he recognizes.
The FCT Minister went further by characterizing the upcoming convention as legally invalid and indicated he would not participate in the event.
“How do you want me to attend a convention that I know by law that there is no convention?” he challenged, though he did not elaborate on the specific legal grounds for his objection.
Wike’s remarks underscore the deepening divisions within the PDP, which has struggled with internal conflicts since losing power in 2015. His position as a serving minister in an APC-led administration while maintaining PDP membership has made him a controversial figure within the opposition party.
The minister’s dual rejection of both Jonathan’s rumored presidential plans and the PDP’s internal reorganization efforts signals his continued alignment with the current government, even as questions persist about his formal party affiliation and political intentions ahead of the 2027 elections.
Jonathan, who served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015, has remained largely silent on speculation about his political future, neither confirming nor denying interest in returning to active electoral politics.
