The Bayelsa chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) says former President Goodluck Jonathan is at liberty to join the party but has yet to do so.

“The former president is not yet a registered member of APC. He is free to join any party of his choice,” Dennis Otiotio, the APC chairman in Bayelsa, said on Tuesday.

He spoke against the backdrop of moves to draft Mr Jonathan into the 2023 presidential race, saying that the APC in Bayelsa was unaware of Mr Jonathan’s membership.

Mr Otiotio, however, said the party was willing to welcome the former president.

“We are open and willing to receive him into our fold, as a political party desirous of winning elections, the only way to go is by admitting people into the party,” he said.

On Monday in Abuja, a support group purchased the APC presidential nomination and expression of interest forms for the former president to contest the 2023 elections on the APC platform. 

However, in a statement by Ikechukwu Eze, his media aide, the former president, dissociated himself from the move and said he did not authorise the purchase of the form.

According to the statement, Mr Jonathan was not consulted on the procurement of the APC nomination form and rejected it. 

(NAN)