“Don’t ruin your legacy” — Oshiomhole advises Jonathan to stay out of 2027 race

Former Edo State governor and ex–national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has urged former President Goodluck Jonathan not to yield to pressure to contest the 2027 presidential election, warning that such a move could damage his legacy.

Speaking on Sunday Politics on Channels Television, Oshiomhole said only those who do not wish Jonathan well would encourage him to return to the political scene, adding that the APC would easily defeat him if he contested.

“How can Jonathan be a threat? We defeated him before when PDP was truly PDP. If a man had PDP at its best, at its peak, and he was defeated, I think only his enemy will push him to go into election,” Oshiomhole said.

He advised the former president to preserve his reputation as a statesman and avoid a political comeback that could erode the respect he earned after conceding defeat in 2015.

“If I were able to advise him, I will say, Sir, maintain this status. You governed for eight years, you don’t have to govern for nine,” he added.

Oshiomhole praised Jonathan’s historic concession speech after the 2015 election, describing it as one of his most admirable legacies.

“Looking at how he ascended to that office, if I were him, I will spend the end of my life trying to find relevance, which he has already found, and speaking, because that conceding defeat — that memorable quote about ‘the blood of a Nigerian is not worth my ambition’ — he should just allow those legacies to be,” he said.

The former APC chairman also argued that Jonathan’s political base in the South-South region had weakened since he left office, making a potential comeback unrealistic.

“We will defeat him if he comes out very flatly because now the South-South is no longer PDP. So where is he going to start from?” Oshiomhole asked.

Jonathan, who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lost the 2015 presidential election to Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.