Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed claims that the visit of the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains to his Abuja home last weekend was aimed at persuading him to defect to the party ahead of the 2023 election.
The Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee, Mai Mala Buni led some governors and other party chieftains to felicitate with Jonathan on his 63rd birthday in Abuja last Friday.
However, in a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, on Saturday, the former president described the report as a mere rumour, saying he has no 2023 presidential ambition or planned to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for APC.
“PDP governors also visited him; it was not only APC governors. Governor Bala Muhammad was there. They visited him as a father and statesman to celebrate with him; it was not a political party affair,” he said.
“Anything you are hearing about 2023 is a rumour and we don’t have time to be responding to rumours; the former president is a very busy person to be listening to rumours.”
However, some of the ex-president’s allies in Bayelsa State declined to comment on the issue, saying Jonathan has not discussed such plan with them and there was no need commenting on what they know is not even on his mind.
“Jonathan cannot put us in the dark about such ambition. If it’s actually true, he would have told us, but I certainly believe that he is not interested in any election. Even if he does, obviously not on the platform of APC, no,” one of the allies who did not want his name in print, said.
