The Presidency has declared that former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 presidential election, but warned that Nigerians will not forget what it described as his “dismal economic record” in office.
In a statement issued on Monday, September 29, 2025, by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Information and Strategy, the State House criticised moves by Professor Jerry Gana and other People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwarts to draft Jonathan into the race, calling it “a comedy of delusion.”
According to the Presidency, Jonathan’s six years in power left Nigeria’s economy “in ruins,” despite record-high crude oil earnings. Onanuga noted that in 2010 Jonathan inherited $66 billion in reserves and the Excess Crude Account but left office in 2015 with reserves below $30 billion and the account depleted to just $2 billion.
The statement further accused Jonathan’s administration of engaging in frivolous spending, mismanaging fuel subsidy funds, and distributing security funds to cronies, all of which, it claimed, left the economy in dire straits.
“By December 2014, the Federal Government could no longer pay salaries, and at least 28 states were owing workers huge arrears,” the statement read.
In contrast, Onanuga highlighted President Tinubu’s “giant economic strides” over the last 28 months, including the removal of fuel subsidy, unification of exchange rates, stabilization of the naira, and restoration of investor confidence. He cited a 4.23% GDP growth in Q2 2025 and a fall in inflation to 20.12% in August as evidence that the country had “turned the corner.”
While conceding that Jonathan has the constitutional right to run, the Presidency warned that the PDP may only be luring him into the contest for selfish reasons, recalling that the same political actors abandoned him in 2015.
“President Jonathan is welcome to the race if he wishes, but Nigerians, who remember the hardship and failures of his administration, will not allow him and his party to ruin the economy again,” Onanuga stressed.
The statement concluded by reaffirming Tinubu’s determination to continue his reforms, rebuild infrastructure, tackle insecurity, and consolidate on what it described as “the bold reset of the Nigerian economy.”
