Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday said there was no truth in reports that he was under pressure to contest the 2023 presidential election.

An online platform had reported that Jonathan said he was under immense pressure to contest the Presidency in 2023 and that he had been promised the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, should he decide to contest.

The online media had also quoted Jonathan as saying that some highly placed individuals had been piling pressure on him to consider the job following the alleged failure of the regime of the current President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

But Jonathan’s spokesman, Dr Ikechukwu Eze, in an interview with our correspondent said it was not true that the ex-President made such comments.

He said such reports had surfaced on some online platforms in the past, adding that such insinuations never emanated from Jonathan.

Eze later in a Whatsapp message to our correspondent said Jonathan never made such comments credited to him.

He added that the ex-President had been busy with his foundation, the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, and its work of promoting peace, sustainable democracy and youth empowerment in Africa.

According to him, Jonathan has not made any comment on the 2023 elections.

Eze said, “There was nothing like former President Jonathan saying he is under pressure to contest.

‘‘The former President has not made any comment nor spoken to anyone on the coming elections.

‘‘He is busy concentrating on his foundation, the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation and its work of promoting peace, sustainable democracy and youth empowerment in Africa.

“This is an old fake story that keeps coming up every now and then. If you check online, you will discover that a story with similar headline had been published in the past by few shady online sources.’’

“The last time this same story circulated online was before the 2019 Presidential elections. It has now come up again.

“The good thing is that Nigerians already know this to be fake. That is why Nigerian newspapers and serious online news media will not publish such falsehood.”