The North West arm of the Gbenga Hashim Vanguard has warned that dragging former President Goodluck Jonathan into the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2027 will be a dangerous gamble capable of reopening old wounds and weakening the party’s already fragile unity.
The group was reacting to comments credited to Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, that Jonathan was among three Southern figures pencilled in by the PDP as possible flagbearers.
In a statement issued in Kano at the weekend, the group’s North West Coordinator, Aminu Wudilawa, described the claim as “provincial and dangerous for party unity,” insisting that only duly elected delegates, in line with the Electoral Act, would choose the party’s candidate.
“The PDP cannot afford to repeat the mistake of 2015, when Jonathan was misled into a provincialist approach that weakened the party and cost us power,” the statement reads. “The PDP is not sectional; it belongs to all Nigerians, North and South. Any attempt to reduce the process to ethnic politics will be resisted.”
While acknowledging Jonathan’s constitutional right to contest, the group argued that presenting him as a Southern consensus candidate would amount to shutting the door against competent Northern aspirants.
It cited Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, a founding member of the PDP, businessman and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary, as a credible alternative.
Describing Olawepo-Hashim as “one of the cleanest hands in Nigerian politics,” the group said he represents the forward-looking leadership Nigerians are yearning for.
But the warning also underscores wider anxieties within the PDP. Jonathan’s return is seen by critics as a Trojan horse pushed by external forces, especially elements within the All Progressives Congress (APC), to destabilise the opposition.
His candidacy, they argue, would hand the APC easy ammunition to crush the PDP, adding that “the South is not short of aspirants already being tipped.”
For the PDP, the dilemma is stark. Embracing Jonathan could plunge the party back into old controversies, while resisting his draft requires the delicate task of balancing zoning pressures with a credible, unifying candidate.
