Is Jonathan the Trump card for PDP in 2027?

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), battered, bruised with hemorrhaging supporters, like an old ship taking on water, has pulled out its most glittering ace, a comeback wishes for former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ).

With a steady mass exodus of loyalists to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the APC, the NNPP and other smaller parties, the PDP’s latest move is as desperate as it is bold: dangle GEJ’s name to spark hope, grab headlines, and perhaps, just perhaps, breathe life into a party on political life support.

It’s no secret why PDP is doing this. The party has been reduced to playing second fiddle in its own supposed opposition role, thanks in no small way to the political havoc wrecked by Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister and immediate past Governor of Rivers State who has unwittingly turned the PDP into a willing support arm for the ruling APC.

With Wike’s shadow looming large, the PDP’s base is almost eroded, its message diluted, and its internal cohesion shredded.

Former President Jonathan may be many things: a gentleman, a statesman, a dove in Nigeria’s hawk-infested politics, but naivety isn’t one of them, even though people easily take his calmness, almost taciturn, as cowardice. And that’s why, despite the fantasy bubbling in some PDP circles, (if he decides to make a comeback bid in 2027), he knows better than strapping himself with an explosive which joining 2027 presidential race under the PDP represents.

Jonathan and Wike have a cold war that dates back to several years. Wike, the PDP’s IED, “internal explosive destroyer” has spent his post governorship years kneecapping the party from within, openly cozying up to the APC while publicly humiliating his own supposed teammates.

Jonathan hasn’t forgotten how Wike played his “wiked”cards during the dying days of the 2015 elections and beyond; nor how his vice grip on Rivers politics was often used to block the former president’s allies.

Now, with Wike comfortably in bed with the APC and serving as one of its most useful battering rams against the PDP, the idea that Jonathan would come running back into that political bear trap is laughable. He knows better than to enter a house where one of the “family members” is setting fire to the curtains.

The PDP Jonathan once led is gone. In its place is a “Fuji house of commotion”: leaderless, rudderless, limping, quarrelsome, cash strapped. It now “donates” talents to the APC, ADC, NNPP, Labour Party, and even obscure regional parties. It’s no longer the fearsome opposition behemoth that could mobilize nationwide protests or lock down entire states during electioneering campaigns.

Today’s PDP is a party in denial and unable to admit it has been reduced to playing “catch up opposition” while Wike and his allies in the party rollick with APC. Jonathan should understand that joining such a crippled platform for a comeback bid would be like boarding the Titanic after seeing the iceberg.
Let’s not say “never”, as Jonathan may one day return to Nigeria’s political frontline but it won’t be through the PDP. Not with Wike’s long shadow darkening its corridors. Not with the party gasping for relevance while acting as an unofficial APC sidekick. And certainly not when GEJ’s global stature allows him to remain above the petty infighting consuming Nigeria’s opposition.

Currently PDP is in intensive care unit: fractured and damaged, and internally at war. Wike’s camp could sabotage any Jonathan comeback from within, while the APC would wage a no-holds barred campaign to destroy his credibility before the polls.

Though the PDP wants GEJ for legitimacy, however, he knows the truth that climbing back on a sinking ship doesn’t make you a captain, it only makes you a fool.

Since leaving office, Jonathan has carefully built a brand as Africa’s peace ambassador, mediating in the Gambia, South Sudan, and beyond. He’s respected by world leaders, treated as a moral voice, and free from the daily mud slinging of Nigerian politics.

Why would he throw all that away just to lead a fractured party into a bruising election he may not win?

The PDP’s current state would not only tar his legacy in black, but also risk turning his carefully cultivated global image into just another casualty of Nigeria’s endless political street fight.

Let’s stop pretending. Nigeria doesn’t just need another president in 2027, it needs a messiah who may not take us to the promised land, but like the Biblical Moses, show Nigeria the sure route to the promised land. This country is not simply “struggling”; it’s gasping for air like a drowning man clutching at straws while politicians argue over who gets to stand on the lifeguard tower.

The last 10 years of the ruling All Progressive Congress has been traumatic to most Nigerians with the economy bleeding from all orifice. Insecurity is going from bad to nightmarish, while the average Nigerian wakes up each morning wondering if the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t just an oncoming train. Leadership has been reduced to PR stunts, photo ops, and hollow promises.

Corruption has become so normalised that Nigerians no longer raise eyebrows when billions vanish overnight.

Politics has turned into a game of personal survival for those in power, a chessboard where citizens are just pawns to be sacrificed without thought.

If Jonathan decides to run in 2027, it would be a political earthquake. His 2015 concession of the election, the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent president peacefully handed over after losing an election earned him global applause and cemented his reputation as a statesman.

Also since leaving office, Jonathan’s goodwill has expanded exponentially. His work as a peace envoy across Africa, his reputation for democratic values, and the nostalgia among Nigerians for his more stable, less repressive years in power have kept his name fresh in the political bloodstream.

For many, his presidency is now remembered as an Eldorado, a paradise lost. On national appeal, GEJ remains a unifying figure across Nigeria’s volatile regional lines.

In the global community, his credibility is soaring as he is highly respected by leaders.
Think about it, nations, like people, crave for redemption personalities. In America, Donald Trump turned a crushing loss into a comeback machine. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela walked out of prison to heal a fractured nation. Even in Ghana, John Mahama refused to fade into irrelevance after defeat, coming back to challenge the establishment.

Nigeria is desperate for that same energy. We’ve tried the strongmen, the technocrats, the messiahs with golden manifestos. None have delivered the healing touch. Now, the people want a leader with scars, someone who’s been knocked down by the system but still stands tall enough to lead it.

We need a national therapist and an economic paramedic rolled into one. Someone who can stand before the angry, cynical, battered citizens and say: “I know what we’ve been through and here’s why we will rise again.”
This redemption story must be personal and national at the same time; the leader’s return to the political stage should mirror Nigeria’s own rise from the ashes. It’s about symbolism as much as it is about policy. Because in 2027, it won’t just be about manifestos; it will be about mending the soul of the nation.

Make no mistake, if 2027 produces just another president, we’ll get just another cycle of excuses. But if 2027 gives us a redemption story, a leader whose comeback inspires even the most hopeless citizen then maybe, just maybe, Nigeria will finally remember how to dream again.

If we miss this chance in 2027, Nigeria risks becoming a permanently failed state, a cautionary tale instead of a continental leader. The world will move on, investors will vanish, our brightest minds will keep fleeing, and our children will inherit a country in ruins.

This is no time for political experiments or vanity projects. This is the hour for a leader whose life is a proof that falling down isn’t the end, it’s the start of the climb. Because in 2027, Nigeria doesn’t just need someone to sit in Aso Rock, it needs someone to pull us all back from the cliff’s edge.

In 2027, Nigeria doesn’t need another smooth talking candidate in designer agbada. It needs someone whose story screams sacrifice, unity, and a willingness to bleed for the nation. A leader who isn’t in it for revenge or for settling political debts, but for genuinely repairing what’s been broken.

Jonathan, for all his imperfections, represents something rare, a leader who knows when to step back, who values national unity above personal power, and who has proven that peaceful leadership is possible in Africa’s largest democracy.

For the PDP, GEJ may be the last spark in the ashes. For Nigeria, he might just be the balm to heal a fractured nation. In a political climate dominated by strongmen, buccaneers and shadowy power brokers, the return of Jonathan in 2027 could be the twist that shocks the ruling APC, and rekindle the fragile hope of over 200 million Nigerians.

2027 is not just another election cycle. It is the last real chance to snatch Nigeria from the jaws of permanent decline. It’s the moment for voters to demand not just manifestos but personal proof of resilience from those who seek to lead.

A redemption story can light a fire in the heart of a nation.

Kalu Okoronkwo, a leadership and good governance advocate, writes from Lagos and can be reached via [email protected]