Politics is in the air. What could have been former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s mission at Aso Villa?

He showed up yesterday and met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The meeting appeared to have been private, as no statement was issued afterwards

Only a photograph of the meeting was released.

Could Jonathan be sending a signal, perhaps?

The former President has, in recent weeks, been in the spotlight amid political controversy. Yet, not a whimper has been heard from him.

On May 30, the Tanimu Turaki group – those who lost the prolonged struggle for the soul of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – threw Jonathan’s bowler hat into the ring by announcing him as its candidate for the January 16 presidential election.

The group gathered at a venue in Abuja after a brief game of hide-and-seek with the police and unveiled Jonathan as its candidate, despite the Supreme Court judgment recognising the Wike-backed Abdulrahaman Mohammed-led leadership of the party, which was subsequently recognised by INEC.

Fred Agbedi, a member of the House of Representatives and now the Minority Leader, announced that Jonathan would later receive a prepared Certificate of Return (CoR) as the party’s candidate at a public ceremony.

He said he had accepted the CoR on Jonathan’s authorisation.

Fast-forward to Friday, July 31. Ini Ememobong of the Turaki group said Jonathan’s name, along with those of other nominees, had been submitted manually to INEC and that the commission acknowledged receipt.

But this came almost a month after INEC’s portal for political parties to upload the names of their presidential candidates had closed.

It was, therefore, no surprise that Jonathan’s name was missing from the list of 19 presidential candidates released by INEC on Saturday.

Yet, there was no word from Jonathan.

On the same day INEC released the list, the former President was in Jos, the Plateau State capital, as a special guest at the presentation of the biography of former Plateau State Governor and ex-Senator Jonah David Jang.

Could his visit to Aso Villa yesterday be a statement from the former President? (The Nation)

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