The Presidency has attacked former President Goodluck Jonathan over speculation that he may contest the 2027 presidential election, describing his six years in office as a disaster.
There have been renewed calls, particularly from the North, urging Jonathan to return to the presidential race as coalition efforts to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 gain momentum.
Several PDP leaders, including former Jigawa Governor Sule Lamido and Bauchi State Governor Senator Bala Mohammed, have publicly called on the Bayelsa-born politician to run.
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Last week, Jonathan visited the African Democratic Congress (ADC) National Chairman, Senator David Mark at his Abuja residence.
Mark was Senate President during the administration of Jonathan between 2010-2015.
While the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, told Daily Trust the visit was private, observers believe it could be linked to 2027 permutations, with the ADC said to be considering the acceptability of a Jonathan candidacy.
Jonathan, who lost his re-election bid to Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, is believed to be showing renewed interest in the political arena.
Though he has yet to declare formally, his appeal, according to insiders, lies in the constitutional term-limit provision that allows him to serve only one more term-a prospect seen as a strategic option in balancing the power rotation debate between North and South.
During the PDP state congress in Niger at the weekend, former Minister of Information Professor Jerry Gana said Jonathan would contest and could even defeat the ruling APC in 2027.
That remark appeared to trigger a sharp response from the Presidency.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement on Monday, described Jonathan’s tenure as a disaster, while stressing that he is free to run.
‘President Tinubu will wholeheartedly welcome him if he decides to enter the race. But Jonathan will have his date in court. The jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term,’ Onanuga said.
He accused Gana of attempting to draft Jonathan into the race on the platform of the ‘discredited’ PDP, which he said left behind ‘economic ruins after 16 years of bad governance.’
‘Gana even deluded himself, asserting that the former president would defeat Tinubu to reclaim power after 12 years. He is free to engage in his usual comedy; after all, Jonathan’s entering the race would provide another job for the Niger State-born former university don.’
He said politicians like Jerry Gana only want to lure him into the race to satisfy their interests.
‘However, we should caution former President Jonathan to be wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders. Politicians of Jerry Gana’s ilk merely want to lure him into the race to satisfy their personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests. They will abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015, and leave Gentleman Jonathan in the lurch,’ he added.
The Presidency maintained Jonathan would have to convince Nigerians that he had anything new to offer ‘after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.’
Onanuga also revisited Jonathan’s record, accusing his administration of lacking any clear economic agenda, engaging in frivolous spending, and running the country into crisis.
He said, ‘Shorn of all those selfish considerations for which some PDP big guns find his candidacy appealing, President Jonathan will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years, for which they voted him out in 2015.
‘The nation’s economic downturn, which President Tinubu is working very hard to overcome, actually began under President Jonathan. The Jonathan administration severely damaged the economy, and all key indicators declined under his watch.
‘Under him, the so-called business moguls allocated foreign exchange to import fuel, simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything. Some of those big men still have court cases on the issue today.
‘Jonathan and his National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), freely distributed security funds to friends and cronies.’
According to Onanuga, in 2010, President Jonathan inherited a total of $66 billion, of which $46 billion was in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the noble-but-abused Excess Crude Account.
‘By 2015, when the people democratically removed him from office, the foreign reserves had fallen below $30 billion, and the Excess Crude Account had been depleted to $2 billion, despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales that the country had never achieved in more than 25 years combined.
‘It is on record that between 2010 and 2013, crude oil sold for an average of $100 per barrel. By December 2014, however, the Jonathan-led Federal Government could no longer pay salaries to Federal Civil Servants. At least 28 states across the country owed workers huge salary arrears.’
By contrast, he said, President Tinubu has taken bold decisions in the past 28 months to reset the economy, including removing the ‘ruinous’ fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates.
‘The President has stabilised the economy. In Q2 2025, GDP grew by 4.23 per cent, the highest in four years and above the IMF’s 3.4 per cent projection. Inflation dropped to 20.12 per cent in August 2025, the lowest in three years. Foreign reserves stand at $42.03 billion. The naira has stabilised, investor confidence is back, and investors are betting on Nigeria,’ he said.
Onanuga also cited infrastructure projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway, alongside security interventions in parts of the country.
‘The PDP and its co-travellers broke the economy; Tinubu is fixing it. Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race, but Nigerians will not allow them to return and run it down again,’ he said.
Jonathan has yet to respond to the latest criticism. Since losing the 2015 election, his administration has been a frequent target of APC attacks, though he has previously defended his record on corruption and the economy.