Before the recent push to draft former President, Goodluck Jonathan, into the 2027 presidential race, the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was also being considered.
Like Jonathan, Obi neither confirmed nor denied the move. However, he publicly pledged that he was ready to serve only one term if given the opportunity.
News360 Info reports that party insiders who spoke with Sunday Sun stated that Obi’s one-term promise did not sway many power brokers within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A senior party source explained, “You know we are all politicians. Even when we don’t trust each other and hardly learn from our mistakes, we have people who constantly remind us of our past. Power is sweet, no one will give it up easily unless there is a constitutional encumbrance that would stop such a person even when he wants to continue.”
Recalling Jonathan’s pre-2011 pledge, the source continued, “I was part of those who followed His Excellency, former President Jonathan, to some of the engagements in the north ahead of the 2011 presidential election. What we told our people then was that he was going to do one term only. Isn’t it? Apart from that, our Baba (Obasanjo) at the Eagle Square, after Jonathan emerged as our presidential candidate, announced that he was going to do just one term. Didn’t Jonathan seek a second term before he was defeated?
“So that is why, for me, Obi’s promise is not attractive, and I want to believe I am not alone on this.”
According to the source, Jonathan’s appeal lies in the constitutional limit on his tenure should he win in 2027.
“Jonathan is preferred because by law, if he wins, he cannot go beyond 2031. And so after him, we will have the power back in the north,” the source added.
