The Presidency on Monday said former President Goodluck Jonathan has the right to contest the 2027 elections but warned that Nigerians still remember his “dismal record in office.”
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a release titled “Former President Jonathan is welcome to the race. Nigerians will remember his dismal record in office.”
Onanuga described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s plan to present Jonathan as its candidate as “absurd,” saying the PDP left behind “economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.”
He said Jonathan was free to run but would face both constitutional hurdles and the judgement of Nigerians.
“Jonathan will have his date in court and also with the people, who voted him out in 2015 after his disastrous six years,” he said.
The statement came after former Information Minister and PDP chieftain, Professor Jerry Gana, suggested Jonathan could challenge President Tinubu in 2027.
But Onanuga dismissed the idea as a fantasy, warning Jonathan not to be deceived by “sugar-coated cheerleaders” in the PDP who, he said, abandoned him in 2015 and could do the same again.
The Presidency accused Jonathan’s government of waste, corruption, and mismanagement of Nigeria’s oil windfall.
Onanuga noted that Jonathan inherited $66bn in 2010, including $46bn in reserves and $20bn in the Excess Crude Account, but left less than $30bn in reserves and just $2bn in the account by 2015, despite oil averaging $100 per barrel.
He also said Jonathan’s government failed to pay federal workers’ salaries in its last months, while 28 states owed arrears.
In contrast, Onanuga praised President Tinubu’s two years in office, pointing to the removal of fuel subsidy, unification of exchange rates, and major road projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway.
He said reforms had restored investor confidence, with GDP growing by 4.23 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, inflation falling to 20.12 per cent, and foreign reserves rising to $42bn.
“The nation has turned the corner. Our people have started reaping the gains of the bold reforms instituted by President Tinubu,” Onanuga said.
He added that while Jonathan and others are welcome to contest, Nigerians will not allow those who “broke the economy before” to return and “run it down again.”
