By Omah Ambrose Muabe
In Nigerian politics, nothing happens by accident – not even a handshake at the Villa. When former President GEJ quietly walked into Aso Rock for a closed-door meeting with President BAT, political spectators initially dismissed it as one of those routine “consultations for national unity.” In Nigeria, however, “national unity” often means somebody somewhere is calculating electoral mathematics with the precision of a banker counting dollars in the dark.
The former President has reportedly declared that he may join the 2027 presidential race “after due consultations.” In Nigerian politics, that sentence is as old and dependable as fuel scarcity and election-year rice. To the ordinary citizen, this may look like another democratic ambition. But to seasoned observers of Nigeria’s political circus, this is chess – not charity.
The game is simple: introduce another heavyweight into the opposition ecosystem and watch the anti-Tinubu coalition scatter like students during a surprise test. The camps of and are already struggling with the ancient Nigerian disease called “who will step down for who.” Now imagine adding Jonathan into the mix – a former president with international appeal, South-South sympathy, and the famous “I had no shoes” nostalgia package.
Suddenly, the opposition table becomes overcrowded. Obi wants reform, Atiku wants redemption, Jonathan wants a comeback, and everybody wants the Villa keys. Meanwhile, somewhere in the background, Tinubu is allegedly smiling like a landlord watching tenants quarrel over who should sweep the compound.
This is why Nigerian politics deserves its own streaming platform. Every election cycle comes with betrayal, alliances, defections, emergency prayers, and politicians discovering “the voice of the people” exactly six months before primaries.
Tinubu, whether one likes him or not, understands the mechanics of power. The man does not merely play politics; he architects it. While others are busy holding press conferences and posting motivational quotes about democracy, the APC machinery appears to be studying opponents the way WAEC candidates study leaked questions.
If Jonathan eventually joins the race, the real question may not be whether he can win, but whether his presence alone is enough to fracture opposition votes into harmless fragments. In Nigerian politics, sometimes the candidate with the loudest crowd is not the most dangerous; the most dangerous is the one rearranging the chessboard while others are still arguing about the rules of the game.
And so, the nation watches. Not with surprise, but with the weary amusement of citizens who already know that politics here is less about ideology and more about strategy, survival, and sophisticated ambition disguised as patriotism.
Welcome once again to the Federal Republic of Calculated Interests.