Former President Goodluck Jonathan has met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in a development that has sparked fresh political speculation ahead of the 2027 general election.
The meeting, which reportedly took place on Sunday, was held behind closed doors, with neither the Presidency nor Jonathan issuing an official statement on what was discussed.
The only information made public after the visit was a photograph showing the two leaders together at Aso Rock, The Nation Newspaper reports.
Jonathan’s visit comes at a time when his name has featured prominently in political discussions following attempts by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Turaki to nominate him as its presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The former president has, however, remained silent throughout the controversy and has not publicly accepted or rejected the nomination announced by the faction.
The Turaki-led PDP faction had insisted that Jonathan authorised it to present him as its presidential candidate and later claimed it manually submitted his nomination to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alongside those of governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates.
However, INEC rejected the submission, maintaining that nominations could only be made through its designated online portal.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said, “Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines please.”
The commission’s position effectively invalidated the nomination submitted by the faction, and Jonathan’s name was absent from the list of 19 presidential candidates later released by INEC.
Despite the rejection, the Turaki group defended its actions, arguing that it was denied access to the commission’s electronic nomination platform.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said, “Notwithstanding INEC’s refusal to provide us with the necessary access codes… we have successfully submitted, manually and in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2026, the list of candidates sponsored by the authentic Peoples Democratic Party.”
He also warned the electoral body against recognising any list different from the one submitted by his faction.
“Should the Commission publish names other than those lawfully submitted by us… we are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our Party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party,” Ememobong stated.
The PDP faction further accused INEC of failing to remain neutral in the internal crisis within the party and alleged that the commission had refused to recognise its interim leadership despite being formally notified.
“The Commission’s actions have regrettably reinforced the growing public perception that it is no longer acting with the impartiality expected of the nation’s electoral umpire,” he said.
Ememobong also criticised a recent Federal High Court judgment connected to the dispute, insisting that the ruling contradicted existing decisions of higher courts.
“The judgment… reads more like an appeal on the judgment of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. It is clearly inconsistent with the extant decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal that form the foundation of our case,” he stated.
Jonathan’s visit to President Tinubu is the first known meeting between the two leaders since the latest political controversy surrounding his reported presidential nomination.
