2023: Former President Goodluck Jonathan will declare his interest – Osita Chidoka

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Osita Chidoka has said that from his last conversation with former President Goodluck Jonathan, he never indicated interest in declaring to run for the President come 2023.

He also made it clear that the former President will come out boldly to declare his intention if he wants to run for the presidency, insisting that his former boss does not need to be lured by anyone to join the race.

Chidoka, a former minister of aviation, said that from the last conversation he had with Jonathan, the former President did not indicate any interest in running for any public office.

Chidoka, however, believes that his former principal was a ‘leading light of the PDP’, adding that all Jonathan needs to do is declare his interest.

The former minister said this when he appeared on Arise TV on Saturday.

According to him, “As for President Goodluck Jonathan, I have not discussed #GEJiscoming with him. In the last conversation I had with him, he wasn’t indicating interest to run for any public office.

“He is in a good place because he represents something that every part of the country can relate to. He has learnt his lessons from his time in office.

“He is in that position that he is the leading light of the PDP as he came into power from Deputy Governor to President in the PDP. I believe his political future would be determined by making public choices.

“I don’t think former President Jonathan would be in that position where he is being called to come and be president.

“If he wants to be president, he would come out boldly and say, ‘I want to be president of Nigeria again because I have the experience and have the capacity to bring back peace in Nigeria and to restore capacity in Nigeria’”.

He said the Bayelsa-born politician can make that case for himself, adding that he does not need to be lured by anyone to run for presidency.

“The] President Jonathan I know, if he has made up his mind to run, would indicate so, and I am sure he will if he makes up his mind to run,” he said.

There are speculations that the former President is being lured to return to power by some Northern politicians to complete a four-year term then return power to the North.

Jonathan and the PDP were defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress in 2015, ending the PDP’s 16 years of rulership in Nigeria.

President Buhari, on Friday, signed the Electoral Act into law and this was swiftly followed by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, fixing February 25, 2023, for the conduct of the presidential election.

INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the adjustment of date became necessary in view of the need to comply with the Electoral Act, 2022, and the constitution of the country.