I Can’t Confirm Jonathan’s Membership Of APC – Spokesman Morka

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Felix Morka, has failed to deny or confirm whether former President Goodluck Jonathan has been given a waiver to join the party and run for president.

Morka, who was responding to  THE WHISTLER via telephone following enquiry to confirm if the news that the former President had joined the party in his home state of Bayelsa was true, said he could not say anything on the matter. 

 “I am unable to confirm that story right now’’, he said when quizzed if Jonathan had joined the APC. 

There have been news reports that Jonathan has joined the party.

However, The Punch quoted  Bayelsa State chapter of the party as denying Jonathan’s  membership in a report on Thursday.

Speaking to The PUNCH, Otiotio said Jonathan could only join the APC if he had been formally granted a waiver by the national chairman of the party, Adamu Abdullahi.

Previous media reports had quoted NAN as reporting that “a dependable source in Jonathan’s camp” said the former president had registered with the APC at his ward in Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

The Chairman of the party in the state, Dennis Otiotio, told the paper he was not in the best position to answer the question if a waiver by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, had been granted to the former President. 

But while responding to THE WHISTLER’s enquiry, the spokesman of the APC said, “I am unable to confirm that story right now,’ further fueling speculation that Jonathan may have indeed gotten a waiver from the party. 

This is even as the former president is yet to announce his defection from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to the APC, to qualify him to stand for the APC’s presidential primary. 

Jonathan was deputy governor and governor of Bayelsa State before emerging Vice President and then President on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. He has always been accused of anti-party activism for identifying with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. 

Buhari chose him to represent the country as Special Envoy, a role that has made his visit to the presidential Villa frequent, leading to insinuations that the cordiality between the president and his predecessor was more than the ceremonial handshakes often portrayed to the public.