Goodluck Jonathan, the former president, has rejected claims that he was offered N500 billion to run for the presidency in 2027. He called the allegation false, malicious and part of a wave of election misinformation spreading ahead of the next general vote.
Jonathan's media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, dismissed the report on Sunday after it circulated widely on social media. The claim alleged that the former leader rejected the massive sum to challenge Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, and fragment votes in the South-South.
Eze said the report was "entirely false and baseless" in a statement. He urged Nigerians to ignore what he branded a made-up story designed to confuse the public and drag Jonathan into needless political rows.
"The report failed to state where or when Jonathan allegedly made such a claim, who was present or who purportedly made the alleged offer," Eze said.
He added that the publication displayed "all the hallmarks of fake news deliberately crafted" to stoke confusion and heat up political temperatures as 2027 election planning speeds up. Every election cycle brings a spike in false claims, fabricated quotes and wrongly attributed statements involving major politicians, according to Eze.
He pushed Nigerians to check shocking claims through trusted sources before sharing them. The report, which spread rapidly on Facebook on Sunday, claimed Jonathan revealed turning down a N500 billion offer to run against Obi in 2027.
The publication provided no proof, named no source for the alleged statement and didn't identify who supposedly made the offer. Speculation about Jonathan's political comeback has grown since May, when reports linked him to a potential presidential run under the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
That faction named Jonathan as its 2027 presidential candidate on May 30 during a special national convention at the PDP's national headquarters in Area 10, Garki, Abuja. The faction said it would set a date to formally hand the party's presidential flag to Jonathan.
No such ceremony has occurred yet, even as the July 11 deadline for submitting presidential nomination forms to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) approaches. Jonathan hasn't publicly stated whether he'll enter the 2027 race, leaving his political intentions unclear despite heavy speculation and repeated attempts to tie him to different political movements.
