Mathias Tsado: Jonathan should contest 2027 poll — he’ll save Nigeria

Mathias Tsado, a former presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), has urged close associates of former President Goodluck Jonathan to persuade him to contest the 2027 presidential election.

Tsado made the appeal on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’.

He said Jonathan possesses the qualities needed to stabilise the country and should return to power for the sake of national recovery.

“Yes, he has not declared that he wants to run for election, but for somebody like me, I am praying for a day that will come when President Goodluck Jonathan will declare and say, ‘I want to run’,” Tsado said.

“Those who have his contacts, those who have access to him, should speak to him.

“They should point out the other rumours around in 2023 that he was going to run and all that.

“There were rumours, but this time around, [they should tell him], ‘Please come around, sir, because Nigerian people today need you’.”

Tsado, who also contested the 2019 presidential election under the Liberation Movement, said Jonathan’s experience and calm disposition are needed to pull Nigeria from the brink.

“We need him back in 2027. This is not about politics but about saving Nigeria,” he said.

“He has the experience, the temperament, and the vision to bring our country back from the brink.”

Tsado praised Jonathan for conceding defeat in 2015, describing him as a statesman who was never desperate for power.

“In fact, he demonstrated he’s not somebody who is desperate to be in government,” he said.

“You remember when he said his ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, and someone said recently that President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election in 2015 but gained the people.

“And at the moment, I think that is what is working for him.”

He added that many Nigerians still regard Jonathan as a unifying figure who left behind strong democratic values and reforms.

“You see, the position that President Goodluck, former President Goodluck Jonathan, finds himself today is a position that most politicians are yearning for,” he said.

Jonathan became president in May 2010 following the death of Umaru Yar’Adua.

He was elected in 2011 but lost to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 — the first time an incumbent would be defeated since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.

While Jonathan has not declared his interest in the 2027 race, speculations on his next move have been rife.

On August 8, Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, said Jonathan is the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) best option ahead of the next presidential election.

In July, Umar Sani, a chieftain of the PDP, said Jonathan remains the most strategic option for the north if the opposition party decides to zone its 2027 presidential ticket to the south.