The Presidency has reacted to calls by former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, urging former President Goodluck Jonathan to join the 2027 presidential race, saying Jonathan is free to contest but Nigerians will remember what it described as his “dismal record in office.”
In a statement issued on Monday, September 29, 2025, by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, the State House said the move by Gana and other opposition figures is part of a “premature” gang-up against the President, despite what it described as Tinubu’s giant economic strides.
Onanuga faulted Gana for suggesting that Jonathan could defeat Tinubu on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party he accused of leaving behind “economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.”
“Prof. Gana of the defunct MAMSER fame is free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy; after all, Jonathan’s entering the race would provide another job for the Niger State-born former university don,” the statement read.
The Presidency warned Jonathan to be cautious of “sugar-coated cheerleaders” in the PDP, saying politicians like Gana only want to use him to advance their personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests, before abandoning him as they did in 2015.
While affirming Jonathan’s constitutional right to contest again, Onanuga noted that a legal battle may arise over his eligibility, having already been sworn in twice as President. He added that beyond legal issues, Jonathan would still need to convince Nigerians that he has anything new to offer “after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.”
The statement highlighted what it described as the failures of the Jonathan administration, including frivolous spending, depletion of foreign reserves and the Excess Crude Account, mismanagement of oil revenue, and the distribution of security funds under Jonathan and his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
According to Onanuga, Jonathan inherited $66 billion in 2010—$46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account—but left behind less than $30 billion in reserves and only $2 billion in the account by 2015, despite record oil revenues averaging $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013.
He said Jonathan’s administration could not pay salaries by December 2014, leaving at least 28 states owing huge arrears.
In contrast, Onanuga praised Tinubu’s reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy, unification of exchange rates, and measures that he said have restored investor confidence. He cited recent economic data, including 4.23% GDP growth in the second quarter of 2025, inflation down to 20.12% in August, and foreign reserves of $42.03 billion. He also noted the stabilisation of the naira, ongoing road infrastructure projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway, and government efforts to tackle insecurity.
“The point is that the PDP and Jerry Gana’s co-travellers broke the economy; President Tinubu is fixing it,” Onanuga stated.
The Presidency concluded by declaring Jonathan and other aspirants welcome to the 2027 race, but warned that Nigerians, who it said still remember the economic downturn of the past, will not allow them to return to power.
