PDP in talks with Obi, Jonathan over 2027 presidential race – Senator Moro

As the race toward the 2027 general elections gathers momentum, a prominent figure in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senate Minority Leader Abba Moro, has suggested that former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and ex-President Goodluck Jonathan may return to the PDP to contest the presidency.

Moro, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, revealed that ongoing talks within the opposition party have raised hopes of a possible comeback for the two influential politicians.

“So, in the run-up to 2027, I am aware certain individuals have been talking to Peter Obi, ‘Hey, come back home, this is what we are likely to do, and if you come, you stand a chance of being the candidate’,” Moro said on the show.

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When asked about the possibility of ex-President Jonathan returning to the PDP, Senator Moro of Benue South said, “Some persons are talking to the former president to come and run. It is a possibility”.

Jonathan served as president under the PDP from 2010 to 2015. The former Bayelsa governor took over from his boss, Musa Yar’Adua, following the latter’s death in 2010.

He contested under the PDP the following year and was elected as president. However, Jonathan lost to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, becoming the first incumbent to be defeated in an election since the return of democracy in 1999.

Since then, he has maintained a low profile politically and has not been seen in PDP meetings.

However, there have been calls on him to throw his hat into the ring for the presidency. Although Jonathan is yet to comment on the matter or declare his interest in the country’s number one seat, which he left in 2015. He has also not publicly resigned his membership of the PDP.

Unlike the ex-president, Obi is a former member of the PDP. He was the party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2019 elections before resigning in the build-up to the 2023 polls.

Ahead of that election, the former governor of Anambra State took an unfamiliar route, teaming up with the relatively known Labour Party (LP). Obi, whose candidacy appealed to Nigeria’s youthful demography, flew the party’s flag in that exercise.

However, he lost to President Bola Tinubu, the then-candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), coming third with over six million votes in an election also contested by ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar under the PDP.

With less than two years to the next round of general elections, the LP chieftain has joined forces with some political topshots, including Atiku, in the opposition coalition party, African Democratic Congress (ADC).

He has also declared an interest in gunning for Nigeria’s top job, but it is unclear under which platform Obi will run.