Presidential spokesman, Bashir Ahmad, Monday night, insinuated that former President Goodluck Jonathan may have finally defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and has picked one of its presidential nomination forms.
Ahmad, who is Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on the New Media had at about 8.35 pm, in a tweet on his verified Twitter handle tweeted “So Goodluck Jonathan has dumped the opposition PDP and now member of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)”.
Also, while retweeting an earlier tweet by BBC, Ahmad hailed the British broadcast behemoth for its understanding of Jonathan’s move.
Speaking in a telephone chat, in Abuja, he explained that all circumstances point to the fact that the former President would be seeking to return to office on the platform of the party that removed him from office more than seven years ago.
According to Ahmad, a political party will sell nomination and expression of interest forms to only its registered members, adding that nobody will pay so much as N100 million for a cause he is not willing to pursue.
“No one will give out N100 million to buy Presidential forms from a party he’s not a member of. The primary criterion for parties to sell their forms to you is that you must first be a registered member”, Ahmad said.
A group of nomadic herders and Almajiris Community in Nigeria led by Ibrahim Abdullahi picked the expression of interest and nomination forms for Jonathan around 6:30 pm on Monday.
Addressing journalists after picking the form , Abdullahi said: “I represent two of the most vulnerable communities in our country. The nomadic pastoralists and the almajari communities have decided to purchase this form for our former president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to come back and rule this country and continue with the good work he has started.
“You may recall that during Goodluck Jonathan’s era, he was the first President since the independence of Nigeria who has found it expedient, who was magnanimous enough to remember the almajari community, he brought a comprehensive policy of reformation and integration of the almajari into the mainstream educational system in Nigeria.
“It was the dream and the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan that if that program had continued it would one day produce from the Almajiri system of education; Doctors, engineers. Unfortunately, that program was kept aside as soon as he left.
“Other parts of the community ( the vulnerable community) that Goodluck Jonathan wanted to give a sense of belonging was the Fulani community, the nomadic pastoralist.”
Eulogising the former leader, Abdullahi said if the present administration has judiciously utilised the N60 billion Jonathan set in the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) which was to be used to develop livestock in Nigeria, the country would have been self-sufficient in livestock.
The nomadic leader said the good work of the former President made them sell their cows to raise the money for the purchase of the forms.
On the party membership status of the former President, the Fulani leader said, “Yes President Goodluck Jonathan is a member of APC.”
