…Jonathan criticises Keyamo, Odinkalu for opposing his presidential ambition
Deborah Akinyosoye
The Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum has faulted calls within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) urging former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest for the 2027 presidential election, describing such an idea as “lawless, confusing and constitutionally untenable.”
The South-West socio-political group warned that any move to field Jonathan as a candidate would plunge the major opposition party into a deeper crisis and leave it vulnerable to legal disputes that could eventually deny it a valid ticket at the polls.
President of the Forum, Akin Malaolu, who spoke in Lagos, yesterday, expressed shock that Jonathan was being positioned to fly the PDP’s flag in 2027, saying that Jonathan, having first completed the tenure of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010, and subsequently serving a full four-year term after winning the 2011 election, has already reached the constitutional limit of holding the office of President.
Malaolu further stressed that Jonathan’s initial swearing-in after Yar’Adua’s death in 2010, while not an election in itself, conferred upon him the status of a substantive President.
According to him, the Forum would not hesitate to mobilise legal action if the PDP proceeds with what it described as “an unconstitutional arrangement.”
ALSO, two lawyers, Kolawole Esan and Yomi Ogunlola, as well as a scholar, Prof. Labode Popoola, have faulted calls on Jonathan to contest for the office of President in 2027.
The two lawyers, who spoke with The Guardian in Ibadan, weighed in on Jonathan’s eligibility, having taken the oath of office twice. Popoola spoke on the capacity to sustain the current policies.
HOWEVER, Jonathan has criticised Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo (SAN), and legal scholar, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, for opposing his speculated 2027 presidential ambition, warning them to stay away from his political decisions.
In a statement yesterday by his brother, Azibaola Robert, Jonathan dismissed their concerns, stressing that his eligibility was not in doubt and that he did not need unsolicited advice.