Former Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has advised ex-President Goodluck Jonathan not to seek a return to power in the 2027 presidential election, warning that the political terrain has shifted significantly since Jonathan\u2019s last outing. His remarks come amid growing speculation about Jonathan\u2019s possible candidacy, especially in light of debates around a one-term Southern presidency and the formation of a new opposition coalition spearheaded by the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television\u2019s Sunday Politics, Sani said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which Jonathan won the presidency in 2011, is no longer the formidable force it once was. According to him, internal divisions and defections have weakened the party, leaving it unable to provide the kind of support Jonathan previously enjoyed.
\u201cEach time there is an election, Jonathan\u2019s name comes up. While it is within his right to contest, I advise him not to,\u201d Sani said. \u201cThe PDP he used to know is not the same PDP today. In the South-West, some party members are endorsing the president, while others are in the new coalition. It is no longer the same structure he relied on in the past, so he shouldn\u2019t waste his time.\u201d
The former senator also cast doubt on the strength of the emerging opposition coalition, arguing that its members lack ideological direction and are not significantly different from President Bola Tinubu\u2019s political camp. He noted that while democracy allows for the formation of opposition blocs, groups driven solely by the desire to unseat the ruling party without offering alternative policies lack credibility.
\u201cThe people in this coalition are not ideologically or philosophically different from the programmes of the Tinubu administration,\u201d Sani added. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we are dealing with opposing ideologies such as Marxism and Capitalism. Their policies, from subsidy removal to devaluation, mirror the same liberal values already in play. Without a distinct agenda, such a coalition cannot inspire meaningful change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has advised ex-President Goodluck Jonathan not to seek a return to power in the 2027 presidential election, warning that the political terrain has shifted significantly since Jonathan\u2019s last outing. His remarks come amid growing speculation about Jonathan\u2019s possible candidacy, especially in light of debates around a one-term Southern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-31-2.jpeg?fit=673%2C456","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16613,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16612\/revisions\/16613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}