I Won’t Declare Now For 2023 But… — Jonathan

Despite months of speculations, former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday kept his supporters guessing about his next line of action over calls on him to contest the 2023 presidential election.

He told a large crowd of supporters, mostly youth and women who came on a solidarity rally to his office in Abuja, that he cannot declare for now.

He however said the whole “political process is ongoing”, telling told them to watch out for him.

Jonathan, who was in a breakfast meeting with some of his political associates at his Foundation Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, had to cut short the meeting to attend to the crowd, which stormed his office as early as 9 am in over 30 buses of various sizes.

Jonathan, who was elated to see the large crowd of supporters, assured them to watch out for him.

According to him: “Yes, you are calling me to come and declare for the next election. I cannot tell you I’m declaring, that the political process is ongoing. Just watch out.

“But the key role you (youths) must play is to pray that Nigeria gets somebody that carries the young people along and somebody that can also work very hard to see that some of the problems we see are dealt with by the government and I believe that collectively we will work together.”

Clad in a brown attire with a bowler hat, the former President, who was accompanied by some of the assistants, commended the youths for getting involved in political activities, noting the large turnout clearly showed that youths were interested in politics.

“We have always been saying that the youths must get involved in the political process and luckily the not-too-young-to-run bill has made it very clear that young people can contest almost every position in government.

” So we will continue to encourage you to get involved in the political process and as long as many youths get involved in the political process the more we will be able to get the government that we want.”

On security, the former President said with the vigour of the youths involved in the affairs of the country, the challenges would soon be surmounted.

“The country has been facing so many challenges some of them started a very long time ago and I believe with the interest of the young people these challenges will be dealt with. We will work very hard,” he stressed.

Leaders of the placard-carrying supporters took turns to persuade the former President to return to office in 2023, promising to see to his victory.

Some of the placards read: “Goodluck declare now”; “We are sorry, Goodluck don’t abandon us, come back”; “Goodluck please come”; “Goodluck we love you” among many others.