The Kabir Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to hold a special national convention on May 30 in Abuja to formally ratify the nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election. The event will take place at the ‘A’ Class Event Centre on Kassim Ibrahim Way in Wuse 2, Abuja, and is expected to draw party leaders, delegates, stakeholders, and supporters from across the nation as the opposition party consolidates its preparations for the next electoral cycle.
Convention Details
In an invitation jointly signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, and the National Organising Secretary, Theophilus Dakas Shan, the party stated that the convention would serve as the formal ratification of Jonathan’s nomination following his emergence as the party’s sole presidential aspirant. This planned ratification comes barely two weeks after the Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee (INWC) granted the former president an automatic ticket to contest the 2027 presidential election on the PDP platform.
Jonathan's Silence
Jonathan has not reacted to the news of his automatic re-election ticket, nor has he commented on the party’s plans to ratify his nomination. The chairman of the presidential screening committee and former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, disclosed the decision while briefing journalists after the screening exercise held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
Waiver from Screening
Aliyu explained that Jonathan was exempted from screening and other nomination processes due to his political pedigree and previous service to the country as a deputy governor, governor, vice president, and president. “The party had already given a presidential aspirant a waiver from screening,” Aliyu said. “As I said in the beginning, he was deputy governor, became governor, became vice president, and later president, so we didn’t see anything that needed screening. And, therefore, the party had given him a waiver. In other words, he has been declared and cleared as a candidate of the PDP for the presidential election, and that is former President Jonathan.”
Only Aspirant
The former governor also confirmed that Jonathan remained the only presidential aspirant seeking the PDP ticket as of the close of the screening exercise. This development signals a major political comeback for the former president, who left office in 2015 after conceding defeat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in what was widely regarded as a landmark democratic transition.
Political Implications
Political observers believe the PDP leadership may have settled for Jonathan as a consensus figure capable of uniting the party’s various factions and rebuilding public confidence amid lingering internal disputes and defections that have weakened the opposition in recent years.
