Amid reports of his planned defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress, ex-Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has kept mum on the rumoured defection.
Though PDP leaders visited him in his Abuja residence on Tuesday, August 31, he did not come plain to debunk the news neither has he refuted the newspapers’ reports on the issue.
Goodluck under PDP was defeated by President Muhammadu Buhari under APC in the 2015 Presidential elections.
The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Yemi Akinwonmi led a delegation of party leaders consisting of Daisi Akintan, former caretaker secretary of the PDP in the South-West and the secretary of ex-officio forum and a member of the National Executive Committee, Mrs Helen Taiwo, to visit Jonathan.
The three-member team met with the former President behind closed doors, Punch reports, adding that the visit was designed to acquaint Jonathan with current happenings within the party and seek his advice on how best to find an amicable solution to the crisis.
According to the publication, a source privy to the meeting said; “The South West team were with the former President to appeal to him not to abandon the party.
“They also appealed to him to show more than a passing interest in the affairs of the party by becoming more actively involved in the activities of the party. The former President assured the team that he would not abandon the party.”
This comes after a chieftain of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, Barr. Olusegun Bamgbose, said that former President Goodluck Jonathan will defect to the APC, soon.
Bamgbose told Daily Post: “The carrot they are dangling at him is the possibility of handing over the APC presidential ticket to him. Jonathan has agreed in principle to cross over to APC before January 2022, he said quoting an insider in the former President’s camp.
“He has been brainwashed by some APC stalwarts that he is the most qualified Southerner to take over from Buhari, having honorably accepted defeat in 2015.
“They have been able to convince him that it’s time for payback for what he did in 2015.
“This is why Jonathan has not been showing any interest in the internal squabbles in his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
“Other things being equal, Jonathan will cross over to APC with a Governor, Senator to convince the APC that he is still politically relevant.
“APC has plans to unsettle PDP in order to politically neutralize them against 2023. It’s most likely that the PDP will break into factions soon.”
