Former President Goodluck Jonathan says there is an ongoing “political process” for his possible 2023 presidential bid, after which he is expected to declare to contest. 

“Yes, you are calling me to come and declare for the next election. I cannot tell I’m declaring. The political process is ongoing; just watch out,” Mr Jonathan told youths at his Abuja office on Friday. 

Mr Jonathan’s office premises was occupied by youths under the aegis of Youth Compatriots of Nigeria led by Mayor Samuel. 

The group, through a protest, demanded that the former president contest the 2023 presidential election. 

“We were deceived and brainwashed by those who claimed they could do it in 2015. Now we know better. Under Jonathan, the minimum wage could buy one or two bags of rice. What do we have today?” said Mr Samuel. “We are begging President Jonathan to forgive us. We have realised our mistakes. We want him to come back and complete what he started.”

Mr Jonathan advised the youths to show greater interest in Nigerian politics and to take advantage of the Not too Young to Run Act to participate actively in the political process. 

Mr Jonathan is rumoured to be secretly consulting for his presidential bid under the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

There are speculations that Mr Jonathan is President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘anointed’ aspirant in the 2023 poll. 

Although he has not formally left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Jonathan has avoided public participation in the party’s affairs, evident by his sitting out of the October 2021 national convention of the party.