Former Governor of Ondo, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Monday, dismissed a media report claiming he was appointed to lead former President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2027 presidential consultation team in the Southwest.
The report, published by a national daily (not Nigerian Tribune) alleged that Mimiko was chosen to head the consultations ahead of Jonathan’s possible political comeback.
The report also claimed that former Osun State Governor and National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rauf Aregbesola, recommended Mimiko for the role.
Although former President Jonathan has yet to declare interest in the 2027 presidential race, speculation has intensified that he may seek a return to Aso Rock.
The former president, who lost his re-election bid to the late Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, is reportedly engaged in quiet consultations over the possibility.
However, in a statement issued on Monday through his spokesperson, Mr. Eniola Akinsola, Mimiko described the report as ‘falsehood’ and ‘a concocted rumour dressed in news.’
‘The falsehood in the report is obvious from the get-go. It is just the work of a journalist flying with concocted rumour dressed as news,’ the statement read.
‘The Mimiko that I know respects former President Jonathan but has neither been reached nor appointed for a campaign that is still the subject – and may well end as a subject – of fanciful speculation. I am sure he is also not job-hunting,’ it added.
Akinsola further noted that as politics heats up, more ‘cooked stories’ would likely emerge, especially about prominent figures like Mimiko, who has chosen to stay out of the spotlight for now.
Last week, former Minister of Information and stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Jerry Gana, claimed that Jonathan would contest the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking with journalists after a PDP congress in Minna, Niger State, Gana said Nigerians had experienced two other leaders since Jonathan and were now yearning for his return.
‘I can confirm that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will contest the presidential election in 2027 as PDP candidate, and we should be prepared to vote for him to return as president again,’ Gana declared.
But in a swift reaction, Presidential aide Mr. Bayo Onanuga dismissed Gana’s claim as ‘an absurdity.’
‘However, we should caution former president Jonathan to be wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders.
‘Politicians of Jerry Gana’s ilk merely want to lure him into the race to satisfy their personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests. They will abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015, and leave Gentleman Jonathan in the lurch,’ Onanuga warned.