By Bolaji Ogundele,The Nation
Copyright thenationonlineng
The Presidency on Monday said former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 presidential election but argued that Nigerians will judge him on what it described as a “dismal” record in office, while contrasting that period with what it called the “giant economic strides” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the early jostling for 2027 had been “prematurely foisted on the nation by the desperation of the opposition ganging up against President Bola Tinubu,” dismissing recent political rhetoric as “a cacophony of voices, most of them full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
The statement singled out former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, over his reported move to draft Jonathan into the 2027 presidential contest on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which it described as “discredited” and responsible for “a legacy of economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.”
It said Gana was “free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy,” adding that Jonathan’s entry would “provide another job” for the former university don.
While acknowledging Jonathan’s right to seek office—“it is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again”—the Presidency said any such bid would face judicial scrutiny.
It stated that “the jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office.”
The Presidency cautioned Jonathan to be “wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders,” alleging that figures “of Jerry Gana’s ilk” sought to lure him into the race for “personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests,” and would “abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015.”
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Recounting its view of Jonathan’s tenure, the statement said the administration “engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits,” claiming that key indicators declined and that “the nation’s economic downturn… actually began under President Jonathan”.
It alleged that some business moguls “allocated foreign exchange to import fuel, simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything,” and that some still face court cases.
It also accused Jonathan and his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), of distributing security funds to “friends and cronies.”
Citing figures, the Presidency said Jonathan in 2010 inherited $66 billion—$46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account (ECA)—but left foreign reserves “below $30 billion” and the ECA “depleted to $2 billion” by 2015 “despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales”.
It noted that oil averaged about $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, yet by December 2014 “the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants,” while “at least 28 states” owed workers arrears.
By contrast, the statement said President Tinubu “has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy,” removing fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates that “paved the way for arbitrage.”
It listed reported gains: Q2 2025 GDP growth of 4.23%, “the highest in four years” and above the IMF’s 3.4% projection; inflation “decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years”; foreign reserves at “$42.03 billion”; and a “virtually stabilised” naira.
“Investor confidence… has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria,” it added.
Beyond macroeconomic indicators, the statement said the “nation has turned the corner” and citizens are “reaping the gains” of reforms.
It highlighted roads being rebuilt and new ones “springing up,” naming the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto–Badagry Highway, and said the government was “addressing security issues in some parts of the country.”
“The PDP and Jerry Gana’s co-travellers broke the economy; President Tinubu is fixing it,” the Presidency declared, insisting Jonathan “will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.”
“President Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race. They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians who will not easily forget the recent past will not allow them to return to run it down again,” the statement reads.
