President Bola Tinubu’s administration has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance in office would pose a significant obstacle if he decides to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, stated this on Monday in reaction to claims by former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, that Mr Jonathan would run on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr Onanuga dismissed Prof. Gana’s remarks as “delusional,” insisting that Nigerians would not forget what he described as Jonathan’s “disastrous” tenure. He argued that it would be impossible for the former president to return after 12 years and defeat President Tinubu.
“As we begin the march towards the 2027 elections prematurely foisted on the nation by an opposition desperate to gang up against President Bola Tinubu despite his evident economic strides one recent statement stands out in its absurdity,” Onanuga said. “Prof. Jerry Gana, a former minister of information and national orientation, claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan would contest the coming election on the platform of the discredited PDP, which left behind 16 years of economic ruin.”
Onanuga added that Jonathan’s eligibility might itself face constitutional challenges since he had been sworn in twice as president. He cautioned the former president against being misled by “sugar-coated assurances” from PDP loyalists, whom he accused of pursuing selfish, ethnic, and political interests rather than patriotic ones.
He further claimed that Jonathan could once again be abandoned by political elites midway into the race, as happened in 2015. While acknowledging Jonathan’s constitutional right to contest, Onanuga maintained that President Tinubu would welcome the challenge, trusting the courts to decide on eligibility.
Highlighting what he called Jonathan’s poor legacy, Onanuga accused the former administration of corruption, mismanagement, and lack of economic direction.
“Jonathan’s regime, devoid of any clear economic agenda, engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground, and left the country in dire straits,” he alleged. “The nation’s downturn, which President Tinubu is working hard to reverse, began under him.”
He cited alleged mismanagement of foreign reserves and the Excess Crude Account, noting that while Jonathan inherited $66 billion in 2010 including $46 billion in reserves and $20 billion in the ECA these figures had fallen sharply by 2015 despite record-high crude oil revenues.
“By December 2014, the Jonathan-led federal government could no longer pay salaries to federal civil servants. At least 28 states owed workers huge arrears,” Onanuga said, also pointing to the arms procurement scandal involving Jonathan’s former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
In contrast, he said President Tinubu had implemented bold reforms to stabilise the economy, including fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification. According to him, the measures are already yielding results: GDP growth of 4.23% in Q2 2025 (the highest in four years), inflation dropping to 20.12% in August 2025, foreign reserves at $42.03 billion, and renewed investor confidence.
“The president has stabilised the economy in just over two years in office. The naira is virtually stable, and investors are once again betting on Nigeria,” Onanuga added.
