A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Garus Gololo, on Sunday, warned former Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan against contesting the 2023 presidential election while favoring Tinubu’s candidature.
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Though Gololo said odds would certainly not favor Jonathan despite the fact that it is the turn of the South to produce the next president but Jonathan coming from the South-South region and having been there before made that near impossible.
Gololo, while speaking to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, said it would be foolhardy for Jonathan to think he could still win any election in Nigeria.
Report had it that some northern groups and associates of Jonathan in the South, according to Sunday’s Nation newspaper edition, had reportedly met in Abuja, while considering drafting the Bayelsa-born politician to gun for 2023 Presidency. Their calculation is that the Presidency can return to the North in 2027 since Jonathan, if he wins in 2023, will be ineligible to contest again having been president for two tenures which the Nigeria constitution permits for an individual.
But Gololo, while reacting to questions, said such a calculation was evil and selfish.
He said, “I’m from the North and I want to emphatically say it emphatically that power should return to the South in 2023 for eight years.
“Northerners are not the only Nigerians in this country. I can’t support such evil and selfish permutations. And for Jonathan, he should rather go and rest. If he dares to contest, we shall do to him what we did in 2015”.
Dr. Gololo also warned the former President to be weary of some political jobbers who may be muting the idea of drafting him into the contest.
He said, “there is nothing wrong in asking someone to come out to contest, but what makes the difference is the votes. The votes shall decide who becomes the next President and if PDP like, let them give it to Jonathan, same fate shall repeat itself, like in 2015”.
When asked which region should produce the next President from the South and if he had anyone in mind, the national APC Chieftain said there are many other capable hands in the South that can deliver. He openly express confidence in Tinubu to deliver as a president.
“It must not be Jonathan. He was there before and we all know what happened then. Let’s try fresh people who have capacity. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is there. He has enough capacity.
“I would even prefer PDP giving it to Jonathan so we all mobilise and team up for Tinubu in APC and Jonathan’s defeat will shock him, like Donald Trump. We are wise now and this country is bigger than any individual”, Gololo added.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK