There’s a reason why Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes still resonates. It’s a story about how an entire kingdom got swept up in a lie, too afraid or too eager to please to speak the truth. That same dynamic is playing out in Nigeria right now, with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the center of a political fantasy that feels more like a cruel joke than a serious plan.
A recent court ruling cleared Jonathan to run in the 2027 election, but that’s never been the real issue. The man has every legal right to toss his hat in the ring. The question is whether he should. And the answer, for anyone paying attention, is a resounding no. The people whispering in his ear, telling him the nation longs for his return, are not serving him. They’re serving themselves. Their loyalty is tied to access and ambition, not to Jonathan or the country.
Think about the political landscape. Jonathan would be stepping into a ring already crowded with heavyweights. Bola Tinubu holds the presidency and all its machinery. Atiku Abubakar commands a loyal bloc in the North. Peter Obi has built a passionate movement in the South-East and beyond. Where would Jonathan’s votes come from? The North isn’t abandoning Atiku for him. The South-West won’t ditch Tinubu. And the South-East, once a stronghold, now sees him as a figure who missed his moment to back Obi’s rise. He’s politically stranded, without a solid regional base or the grassroots energy needed to run a modern campaign.
The irony stings. Jonathan couldn’t beat an electorally vulnerable Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, even with all the perks of incumbency. Now, some expect him to topple Tinubu, a seasoned political strategist who controls state power. That’s not just optimistic; it’s detached from reality. Even in a hypothetical fair fight, a four-way race with Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, and Jonathan leaves no clear path for Jonathan to come out on top.
What’s really driving this talk is nostalgia. Jonathan earned genuine respect for conceding defeat peacefully in 2015, a rare act of grace in Nigerian politics. Many people, myself included, see him as a decent man. But decency doesn’t equal effective leadership. His tenure was marked by a weak hand against corruption and a security crisis as Boko Haram spiraled out of control. Those memories haven’t faded.
His greatest asset now is goodwill. That reputation, built on a dignified exit and international respect, is fragile. If he allows himself to be used as a pawn by opportunists, he risks destroying it all. A humiliating defeat wouldn’t elevate his stature; it would shatter it. And it would further fracture an already divided opposition, making it even harder to mount any real challenge against the ruling party.
At the end of the day, the only person who would truly benefit from a Jonathan candidacy is President Tinubu. It’s not a serious political project. It’s a mirage fueled by flattery and self-deception. Jonathan 2027 is a joke that has gone on far too long.
