Goodluck tells Aso Rock cabal he is no longer interested in their APC presidential ticket

FORMER president Dr Goodluck Jonathan has rejected the offer out to him by some of President Muhammadu Buhari's close associates who were offering him the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year's elections.

In the 2015 presidential elections, President Buhari defeated Dr Jonathan in what was the first time that an incumbent Nigerian leader lost at the polls. President Jonathan has received widespread praise internationally for the gracious way he accepted defeat and stood down despite some of his hardline supporters urging him to fight.

With elections due next year, a group of President Buhari's close associates are said to have offered Dr Jonathan the APC ticket on the condition that he must officially defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They insisted that he must leave and join the APC along with several PDP governors from the south-south and southeast geo-political zones.

Described as the cabal, this shadowy group comprising some members of President Buhari’s extended family and friends, are said to be the powers behind the throne. They are said to have the ear of the president, influence policy-making and determine those who gets major appointments.

However, Dr Jonathan rejected the conditions they gave him and told the cabal he does not have interest in the 2023 presidency again. His response, it was gathered, embarrassed the cabal members who described the former president as a traitor.

One source said: “They are now accusing Jonathan of not fulfilling some of his promises after several meetings and the soft-landing given to him. He was to come on board by converting some PDP states in the south-south and southeast to APC and that way he would get the automatic ticket uncontested.

"Some other conditions were also given to him but guess what? He told them he won't contest again. They are now angry, saying he was deceitful. They said after getting some of his seized monies back, his wife’s monies returned to him, he finally decided not to contest."

It was also reported that the cabal members had warned President Buhari against handing over to vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Dr Jonathan on the other hand surprised the northern elite and the cabal by his disposition to the Buhari presidency despite all the dirt and campaign of calumny mounted against him in 2015.