August 31, 2026
File: Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s warning to governors and political heavyweights who descended on Osun for the August 15 governorship election is worth attention. It is a reminder that Nigeria’s democracy cannot afford to turn off-cycle elections into jamborees for outside political forces.
The spectacle was difficult to miss. The All Progressives Congress (APC) constituted a 276-member campaign council chaired by Imo Governor Hope Uzodimma, with Yobe Governor Mai Mala Buni, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas as co-chairmen. Governors, ministers, National Assembly members, party chieftains, aides and security personnel were mobilised for a contest that was, constitutionally, about the choice of Osun voters. The crowding created an unsettling display of muscle.
Jonathan, himself a former governor of Bayelsa State and later president, called the practice “unwholesome.” He said the convergence of serving governors, senior political office holders and party leaders, accompanied by large entourages and heavy security details from outside the state, raises an issue demanding attention. Recalling the 2013 Anambra and 2014 Ekiti elections, he said that as president he ordered political leaders and senior government officials to leave those states. He warned that the emerging practice could threaten Nigeria’s fragile democracy.
