A group known as Citizens Network for Peace and Development (CNPD) has called on former President Goodluck Jonathan to run for the office of president in the 2023 general elections.

The group has also asked Mr Jonathan to dump his party, PDP, and join forces with President Muhammadu Buhari in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to achieve this goal. This is even as it asked the latter to support the former president.

The call comes amid speculations that the former president is nursing another presidential ambition.

He is, however, yet to officially announce his intention to contest in the 2023 elections or defect to the APC.

President Buhari had in the 2015 election, defeated Mr Jonathan, ending 16 years of PDP’s reign in a massive campaign that painted the Jonathan-led administration as corrupt and clueless.

The APC has, since assumption of office, blamed Mr Jonathan and the PDP for its seeming inability to deliver many of its election promises to Nigerians.

The National Coordinator of CNPD, Raphael Okorie, who made the call in Abuja on Sunday, said the group is ready to mobilise at least eight million citizens to return Mr Jonathan to the office of the president.

He said the group wants the former president to accept the offer to serve and rescue Nigeria at a crucial moment like now “because of his track records in office.”

“We call on former President Jonathan to once again avail himself to be of service to the country he loves so much… This is a rescue mission you cannot refuse to lead sir”.

“We call on President Buhari, who has done so much in his few years in office to throw his support behind the candidature of Goodluck Jonathan, should he accept to vie for the office of president.

“Coming at the heels of the end of his tenure, we are confident that Jonathan more than any other candidate will ensure continuity, stability and fair play across the polity. We say to Mr President that you have sacrificed so much for this nation.

“We are ready to mobilise no less than eight million Nigerians towards the 2023 polls. We say so with all sense of responsibility.”

Mr Okorie said the leadership requirement to move Nigeria forward is nothing short of a tested and trusted nationalist, strong and committed to the Nigerian project.

“We have carefully scanned the political firmament in search of a credible, knowledgeable, selfless, trusted and patriotic candidate to occupy the exalted position of President of Nigeria.

“Our searchlight has fallen on… Goodluck Jonathan. His antecedents speak volumes. His compassion and passion for peace and Nigeria’s development cannot be overlooked.

“Jonathan’s track records as an achiever are clearly evident around us. A good number of megaprojects initiated by his administration litter the horizon and though quite a number stand today in credit to the present administration in the spirit of continuity, the fact remains that he has left indelible footprints in the sands of time.”

The group also noted that with the level of mutual ethnic mistrust in the country, what Nigeria needs is a Jonathan to steer the ship.

It said those who vigorously criticised the Jonathan administration usually misunderstood his conciliatory and transformative approach to governance.

“We need a leader who is a true democrat. A leader who is acceptable by all. One who appeals to the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the Muslim and the Christian, the Northerner and the Southerner.”

It is not clear how many will handle Mr Jonathan’s return to the APC – at a time when many interest groups in the South want power to shift from the North to that region.

While he meets that requirement, he will be constitutionally entitled to only a single term of four years in office.