Former President Goodluck Jonathan has been adopted as the presidential flagbearer of the Kabiru Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party faction for the 2027 general election — without being present at the convention that rubber-stamped his candidacy.
The declaration was made on Saturday at a special national convention convened by the faction at the PDP national secretariat in the Area 10 district of Garki, Abuja, where Jonathan’s name was put forward and ratified by delegates in his absence.
The Turaki-led group, one of several factions currently wrestling for control of the crisis-ridden opposition party, moved swiftly to install the former Bayelsa State governor as its standard-bearer ahead of the keenly anticipated 2027 presidential contest.
Jonathan’s in-absentia adoption raises immediate questions about whether the former president was aware of, or consented to, the exercise, a development that is likely to stir further controversy within an already deeply divided PDP.
The former Nigerian leader, who governed the country from 2010 to 2015 before losing to incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, has in recent times kept a largely low political profile, though speculation about a possible return to the presidential stage has refused to die down.
The PDP has been embroiled in a prolonged internal crisis, with multiple factions laying competing claims to the soul of the party ahead of what promises to be a fiercely contested 2027 election cycle.
It remains unclear whether Jonathan will formally accept or reject the adoption, and his camp is yet to issue any public response to Saturday’s convention proceedings.
