The Tanimu Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee (INWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared former President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections, granting him a waiver from appearing before the presidential screening committee on account of his background as a former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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The declaration was made on Tuesday in Abuja following a meeting of the presidential screening committee set up by the Turaki camp to screen aspirants for the party’s primary elections. The development came on the same day that a former presidential aide, Umar Sani, publicly claimed that Jonathan had already purchased the PDP’s presidential nomination form and was preparing to submit it publicly.
Jonathan himself was absent during the screening exercise held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, and has not publicly declared his ambition, confirmed the platform on which he may contest, or officially reacted to his declaration as the party’s sole candidate.
The screening committee is chaired by former Vice President Namadi Sambo and includes prominent PDP figures such as Chief Olabode George, Chief Tom Ikimi, and former military governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang. However, Sambo, George, Ikimi, and several other members of the committee were not in attendance at the Tuesday sitting.
A member of the committee and former Governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, who spoke on behalf of the panel, announced that Jonathan had emerged as the sole candidate of the party following the waiver granted to him.
“The party had already given our presidential aspirant the waiver. As I said earlier, he was deputy governor; became governor; became vice president; and became president. So, we did not see anything that needed screening, and therefore the party gave him a waiver. In other words, he has been declared and cleared as the candidate of the PDP for the presidential election, and that is President Jonathan,” Aliyu stated.
On the same day, Umar Sani who served as Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former Vice President Namadi Sambo claimed during an appearance on Trust TV that Jonathan had already procured the PDP’s presidential nomination form.
“The issue is not about whether we will extract commitment from him. What is most important in politics is action. If your action suggests you are interested, there are certain actions to follow. One of which is the procurement of the nomination form,” Sani stated.
“He has procured the nomination form. In fact, he is about to come and submit the forms publicly. So it is not an issue of whether we are trying to bring or use him for our face-saving grace, whatever. No. The fact of the matter is that we believe that Jonathan is the right choice at this moment,” Sani added.
It remains unclear, however, when exactly Jonathan purchased his expression of interest and nomination forms. On Monday, it was widely speculated that a presidential aspirant believed to be Jonathan would submit nomination forms, but the day ended without the former president making any appearance.
Jonathan’s potential return to the presidential race raises the recurring question of whether he is constitutionally eligible to contest again, having already served as president from 2010 to 2015.
Sani expressed confidence that a pending suit challenging Jonathan’s eligibility would be dismissed by the court, arguing that the issue had already been settled judicially.
“We are very confident that the matter will be thrown out because you cannot relitigate something that has already been decided upon,” Sani said.
He maintained that only the Supreme Court could overturn previous decisions on Jonathan’s eligibility, and predicted that the pending matter before Justice Peter Lifu at the Federal High Court would likely be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction when it comes up on May 26, 2026.
The eligibility debate centres on the interpretation of Section 137 of the 1999 Constitution, which limits a president to two terms of four years each. Jonathan’s supporters argue that because he first assumed the presidency upon the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2010 and only won one election in 2011, his single electoral victory means he is eligible to contest again. Critics argue that he has already occupied the office for a full term and won one election, which together amount to the constitutional maximum.
Sani dismissed suggestions that Jonathan’s supporters were exploiting his name for political gain, arguing that many Nigerians remained nostalgic about the former president’s tenure.
“Most Nigerians know him and are nostalgic about Jonathan. At the time he left office, many people felt the PDP was not performing, but now Nigerians have seen the difference clearly,” Sani stated.
Jonathan served as Nigeria’s president from 2010 to 2015 before losing re-election to former President Muhammadu Buhari. Since leaving office, he has largely focused on diplomatic and mediation roles across Africa, including election monitoring and conflict resolution missions, while staying away from direct partisan politics.
Beyond the presidential declaration, the screening committee also screened approximately seven governorship aspirants from Taraba, Kano, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states on Tuesday.
Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, the INWC secretary and a governorship aspirant for Oyo State, was also granted a waiver and did not appear for screening. Aliyu attributed Arapaja’s absence to his need to travel to Ibadan. “We also declared him as having been given a waiver by the party,” Aliyu stated.
Providing a breakdown, Aliyu said: “We had two from Taraba, one from Adamawa, one from Kano, one from Akwa Ibom, and one from Delta. Anytime the other people come within the screening period, we will continue the screening exercise.”
The Turaki-led camp announced the previous week that a total of 3,181 aspirants had purchased forms to vie for various offices in the 2027 elections under its banner. These comprised 2,122 House of Assembly aspirants, 748 House of Representatives aspirants, 198 senatorial aspirants, and 112 governorship aspirants numbers that suggest a significant level of political activity within the faction despite questions about its legitimacy.
The declaration of Jonathan as the PDP’s presidential candidate by the Turaki-led faction further deepens the crisis of dual leadership structures within the opposition party.
The Abdulrahman Mohammed-led National Working Committee (NWC) the rival faction also recently concluded the screening of one presidential aspirant and more than 25 governorship aspirants for the 2027 elections, running a parallel process to the Turaki camp’s activities.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) currently recognises the Mohammed-led NWC on its portal following judicial intervention. However, the Turaki-led INWC insists that the court did not grant legitimacy to the NWC to run the affairs of the PDP, maintaining that it remains the authentic leadership of the party.
The existence of two separate PDP structures each conducting its own screening, each claiming constitutional authority, and each selecting candidates for the 2027 elections creates an unprecedented situation that will ultimately require judicial resolution before INEC can accept nominations from the party for the general elections.
Aliyu acknowledged the challenges but expressed confidence that the party would survive. “We are very happy that even those who have been attempting to kill the party cannot succeed, and the party will contest this election by the grace of God and by the Constitution of Nigeria,” he stated.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the entire development is Jonathan’s own silence. The former president has neither publicly confirmed his interest in the race, nor acknowledged the purchase of nomination forms, nor reacted to his declaration as the PDP’s sole candidate by the Turaki camp. His absence from the screening exercise even though a waiver was granted and the absence of key members of the screening committee from the session further contribute to the air of uncertainty surrounding the entire process.
Whether Jonathan is genuinely preparing a political comeback or is being used as a rallying figure by one faction of a fractured party remains an open question that only the former president himself can conclusively answer.
The eligibility suit is expected to come up before Justice Peter Lifu at the Federal High Court on May 26, 2026, and may provide some legal clarity on whether Jonathan can constitutionally return to the ballot.
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