A sitting governor of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) reportedly purchased the Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms for former President Goodluck Jonathan, it was gathered.
A group called Nomadic Pastoralists and the Almajiri Communities, led by one Ibrahim Abdullahi, had picked up the forms on Jonathan’s behalf, on Monday, claiming they paid for them.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after picking the forms, Abdullahi said they decided to purchase the forms for former President Jonathan to enable him stage a comeback and continue with the good work he had started.
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But hours after the news went viral, Jonathan’s Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said his principal did not authorise the purchase of the forms but thanked the donors for their concern.
He also said Jonathan was not in the presidential race of the ruling party.
It was gathered from sources that a serving northern governor credited the APC Collection Account domiciled with Heritage Bank, with N100 million.
The bank had also in a letter dated May 9, 2022 told the APC that it received the amount.
The letter was titled, ‘Notification of credit into account: All Progressives Congress (APC) Collections Account: 5600007616’.
It had been reported how two influential governors from the Northern part of the country were plotting the return bid of the former president.
Multiple sources, who were in the know, said the two governors, close to President Muhammadu Buhari, had secured the buy-in of a section of the presidency to actualise their agenda of drafting the former president into the presidential race.
While one of the governors is from the North West, the other is from the North East geopolitical zone.
The two governors had been playing key roles in the affairs of the APC in the last few years.
In the last seven years, the former president had not been attending activities of his party (PDP).
This is just as his romance with President Buhari and top shots of the ruling party takes the centre stage, a development that has pitched him against opposition leaders in the country.
The purchase of presidential forms for Jonathan changed the whole discussion around the 2023 presidency.
