The Presidency has thrown down the gauntlet as former President Goodluck Jonathan edges closer to the 2027 race, warning Nigerians that the country cannot afford to return to what it described as his “disastrous and economically ruinous years in power.”
Speaking in Abuja, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, dismissed opposition efforts to draft Jonathan into the race as “a desperate move by a discredited party clutching at straws.”
“Let’s be clear — President Jonathan reserves the right to contest. But Nigerians remember 2015. They voted him out after six years of economic drift, corruption, and reckless spending,” Onanuga said. “If he chooses to run again, he will meet Nigerians head-on at the ballot, and they will remind him of the ruin he left behind.”
The statement targeted former Minister Jerry Gana, who is leading calls for Jonathan’s comeback, calling his claim that Jonathan could defeat Tinubu “a delusion.”
“Jonathan’s backers are simply sugar-coating him for their selfish political, religious, and ethnic interests. They abandoned him in 2015, and they will abandon him again,” Onanuga fired.
The Presidency did not mince words in recounting Jonathan’s record:
- Economic Collapse: Reserves fell from $66 billion in 2010 (including $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account) to less than $32 billion by 2015.
- Unpaid Workers: By late 2014, Jonathan’s government and 28 states could no longer pay salaries despite oil selling above $100 per barrel.
- Corruption Scandals: Security funds were “freely shared among cronies,” while politically connected businessmen “pocketed forex for fuel imports without bringing in a single litre.”
“Jonathan squandered Nigeria’s greatest oil boom in history and left the treasury empty,” Onanuga said. “He broke the economy, and Nigerians will not hand him the chance to do it again.”
The statement contrasted this with Tinubu’s record in office, boasting of bold reforms that ended fuel subsidy and exchange rate arbitrage, stabilised the naira, and restored investor confidence. It cited the 4.23% GDP growth in Q2 2025, inflation dropping to 20.12% (the lowest in three years), and foreign reserves rebounding to $42.03 billion.
“In just over two years, President Tinubu has turned the corner for Nigeria. The economy is back on track, infrastructure is rising across the nation, and security is being tackled with renewed vigor,” Onanuga stressed.
With the 2027 elections on the horizon, the Presidency declared that the contest will be a referendum between the past and the future.
“Jonathan and the PDP broke this country. Tinubu is fixing it. Nigerians know the difference. They will not forget the hunger, the unpaid salaries, and the corruption of yesterday. In 2027, they will choose progress over regression.”
