The Presidency has thrown down the gauntlet to former President Goodluck Jonathan, declaring that while he is free to enter the 2027 presidential race, Nigerians will never forget the economic collapse and misrule that defined his six years in power.
In a blistering statement on Monday, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, tore into efforts by Professor Jerry Gana and other PDP stalwarts to draft Jonathan back into the contest, describing the move as “absurd comedy” and a desperate ploy by a party that “wrecked the nation for 16 years.”
Onanuga warned Jonathan not to be deceived by “sugar-coated PDP cheerleaders” who abandoned him in 2015 and would “dump him midstream again” after using him to pursue narrow political, religious, and ethnic agendas.
“President Jonathan is welcome to the race if he dares. But Nigerians will ask him what new thing he has to offer after presiding over economic ruins, frivolous spending, depleted reserves, and the wholesale looting of security funds,” Onanuga said.
He recalled that Jonathan inherited $66 billion in reserves and Excess Crude savings in 2010 but left office in 2015 with less than $32 billion combined—despite record oil earnings averaging $100 per barrel. By the end of his tenure, the federal government and 28 states could not even pay workers’ salaries, he noted.
Onanuga also accused Jonathan’s government of running forex rackets, mismanaging oil revenues, and distributing security funds to cronies under the watch of his National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
By contrast, he said President Tinubu has reset the economy in just over two years with bold reforms, including removing the “ruinous” fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates. He boasted that GDP growth hit 4.23% in Q2 2025, inflation dropped to a three-year low of 20.12% in August, and foreign reserves now stand at $42.03 billion.
“The nation has turned the corner under President Tinubu. The economy is stabilised, investor confidence has returned, and landmark projects like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway are underway. Nigerians will never gamble their future again on those who broke the economy before,” Onanuga thundered.
“Jonathan and his PDP co-travellers are free to run. But Nigerians know better. They will not allow them to return and ruin the country a second time.”