Presidency has responded to calls for former President Goodluck Jonathan to join the 2027 presidential race, saying while Jonathan is constitutionally free to contest, Nigerians are unlikely to forget the “disastrous economic legacy” he left behind.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, the government described the push to bring Jonathan back as “absurd” and politically opportunistic.
The comment follows a declaration by Professor Jerry Gana, a former Minister of Information, who had voiced support for Jonathan’s return to power on the platform of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Onanuga dismissed Gana’s remarks as “delusional,” noting that Jonathan’s candidacy would not only raise constitutional questions but also force a reckoning with his administration’s troubled past.
> “Prof. Gana of the defunct MAMSER fame is free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy,” Onanuga said. “After all, Jonathan’s entering the race would provide another job for the Niger State-born former university don.”
The Presidential spokesman warned that the same political actors urging Jonathan to return would likely abandon him again, just as they did ahead of the 2015 general election.
> “We should caution former President Jonathan to be wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders. Politicians of Jerry Gana’s ilk merely want to lure him into the race to satisfy their personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests,” Onanuga said. “They will abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015.”
Onanuga acknowledged Jonathan’s constitutional right to run but stressed that both the judiciary and the electorate would ultimately have the final say.
> “President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes. It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again. President Tinubu will wholeheartedly welcome him if he decides to enter the race,” he said. “But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land… and also with the people, who will ask whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years.”
The statement took direct aim at Jonathan’s tenure, accusing his government of economic mismanagement, reckless spending, and corruption.
> “We cannot forget in a hurry how his regime, devoid of any clear economic agenda, engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground, and put the country in dire straits,” Onanuga stated.
Citing economic data, the Presidency said Jonathan inherited $66 billion in reserves in 2010 but left the treasury nearly empty by 2015, with foreign reserves falling below $30 billion and the Excess Crude Account down to $2 billion.
> “Despite crude oil selling at over $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, by December 2014, Jonathan’s government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants. At least 28 states owed workers huge salary arrears,” Onanuga said.
He also referenced the alleged misuse of security funds under Jonathan’s administration, particularly by his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
In contrast, Onanuga highlighted the Tinubu administration’s achievements over the last 28 months, noting economic reforms and improvements in fiscal indicators.
According to the statement, the economy grew by 4.23% in the second quarter of 2025 — the highest in four years — surpassing IMF projections. Inflation dropped to 20.12% in August, the lowest in three years, while foreign reserves rose to $42.03 billion.
> “Investor confidence in our economy has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria,” Onanuga said. “Road infrastructure is being boosted… security challenges are being addressed. The nation has turned the corner.”
He concluded by reiterating that while Jonathan and other aspirants are welcome to the race, Nigerians will not easily forget the economic woes of the past.
> “They broke the economy before. Millions of Nigerians, who will not easily forget, will not allow them to return and run it down again,” he added.