Goodluck Jonathan 2023 presidential aspiration has James Onanefe Ibori to contend with
OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Goodluck Jonathan 2023 presidential aspiration is no longer a function of speculative endeavour despite the creative attempts to consign it as a “media rumour.”
Goodluck Jonathan Ebelle had been Nigerian democratically elected President between 2010 and 2015 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Before then, he was a Vice President to late President Umaru Yar’Adua as well as deputy governor, governor of Bayelsa State respectively.
He lost a re election bid to the then opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC in the 2015 general election.
The election generated much concerns because Goodluck Jonathan conceded victory to his opponent as a sitting President, a development that is very rare in the African political circle.
Through the recommendation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan got a sub regional peace assignment. That, for a long time, has kept him busing navigating the length and breadth of the West African sub region and advocating peaceful democratic practices.
The assignment has sufficiently sold Goodluck Jonathan to both continental and global political stakeholders so much so that when the idea on who should be considered as a successor to President Buhari came up, the Otueke born peace maker ranked among the top five.
The support index has much of Jonathan’s public statement supports to the Buhari’s administration
“He has never talked ill of President Buhari. Despite what we did to humiliate him out of office, Goodluck Jonathan still preaches peace and support to the Buhari’s government. That was a major factor that endeared him to the northern political establishment,” OpenLife Nigeria was told by a northern serving Senator.
To progress, key political heavy weights loyal to President Buhari got the assignment to market Goodluck Jonathan and create all the necessary leeway for his switch over to APC for the 2023 presidential race.
“The APC governorship egg head’s visit to Goodluck Jonathan on his birthday in Abuja last year was part of the game plan,” a former deputy governor in the South South geo-political zone told OpenLife in Akwa on Wednesday.
Sensing the positive progress reports from the opposition, Goodluck Jonathan decided to embark on backward integration and get the buy in of his PDP top members.
OpenLife Nigeria credible source disclosed that “That is the reason you see him attending events of all and sundry in the past few months including birthday, naming ceremony and book launch. At the moment, governor Diri Duoye of Bayelsa would go for Goodluck Jonathan irrespective of any political platform in 2023,”
But in all of this, former President Gooluck Jonathan may not enjoy a smooth inroad into Delta, a state that has been governed by PDP and still ready for PDP.
During the week, Jonathan paid a condolence visit to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa at government House, Asaba, over the recent demise of his father, Sir Okorie Okowa.
The visit, OpenLife Nigeria gathered, was essentially designed to woo governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the 2023 game plan.
Our source stated that James Onanefe Ibori, a two-term former governor of the State, who was sent to jail in London by Goodluck Jonathan “Is a factor. James Ibori is 100 percent in control of what happens in Delta. Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President who is expected to fly the PDP ticket is a close ally of Ibori. James Ibori enjoyed huge financial supports from Atiku when he was in prison in England. Therefore, Jonathan’s 2023 cannot fly in Delta except if he is able to convince James Ibori and win him to his side,” the source disclosed.
In all of this however, Goodluck Jonathan, who has already placed his hands on the plough, does not seem to be looking back in the realization of his 2023 ambition.
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