Former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to bring back former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate for the 2027 elections, describing him as the party’s “best bet” to reclaim power.
Speaking during a television interview, Lamido said no current southern PDP politician can match Jonathan’s pedigree, experience, and temperament.
“I think so far now in the PDP, with all due respect to all the members of the PDP, I don’t see any better alternative than Jonathan. If he comes into PDP, I don’t see any other person, really,” he said.
“If we are giving the president to the south, who is there in the PDP who can challenge Jonathan? In terms of pedigree, in terms of being there in office, in terms of being cool-headed, in terms of somebody willing to listen… and somebody who also believes in partnership.
I think for PDP now, they should try to woo him. To me, he is their best bet. Anybody put forth by the PDP, Nigerians will support him.”
Lamido described Jonathan as “most welcome, competent, and very qualified” and said he would personally back his return to the PDP.
His comments come amid mounting speculation over Jonathan’s possible political comeback.
Although the former president has not publicly declared any interest in running, reports of quiet lobbying within PDP circles have kept him in focus ahead of the 2027 race.
Beyond endorsing Jonathan, Lamido called for decisive disciplinary action against party members who worked against the PDP in the 2023 general elections.
He specifically named the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; former Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom; and former Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, among others.
“All those erring members the Wikes, the Ortoms, the Ikpeazus and others who openly campaigned against the PDP in the 2023 elections, and who say that they are going to work for the APC in 2027, should be sacked from the party,” he stated.
The PDP chieftain accused the party of tolerating what he described as “a culture of impunity” for over 18 months, in violation of its constitution.
“From way back after the primaries of 2022 leading to the elections of 2023, there are people who, because of their interest and ambition, felt aggrieved about what transpired in the party’s convention.
And they turned against the party and fought the party. We’ve been having this kind of problem the impunity of people castrating the party and denouncing it,” Lamido said.
He stressed that the PDP’s constitution clearly provides for sanctions against members who breach the party’s code, but lamented that the leadership has failed to enforce it.
“In the constitution, if you breach the party’s code, you are sanctioned.
But somehow, going into a ditch, the party executives are now alive to their responsibilities,” he noted.
Lamido also disclosed that he has boycotted meetings of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) until disciplinary measures are taken against those who undermined the PDP.
