2027: We’re Still Fixing Jonathan’s Mess, Presidency Blasts Jerry Gana

The Presidency has fired back at former information minister, Professor Jerry Gana, over his claim that Nigerians want former president Goodluck Jonathan back in 2027.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, while responding to Ghana’s claim on Monday, said the current administration is still fixing the economic damage left by the Jonathan government.

Onanuga dismissed Gana’s claims as absurd and cautioned that Nigerians would not forget Jonathan’s “dismal” record in office.

“One recent statement that stands out in its absurdity is Professor Jerry Gana’s,” Onanuga stated, adding that the former minister was “moving to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2007 presidential race” on the platform of “the discredited People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which bequeathed a legacy of economic ruins, after 16 years of bad governance.”

The presidential spokesman described Gana’s assertion that Jonathan would defeat President Tinubu to reclaim power after 12 years as delusional.

He said, “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.”

Onanuga further raised constitutional questions about Jonathan’s eligibility for a potential third term.

“President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes. It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again. President Tinubu will wholeheartedly welcome him if he decides to enter the race. But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land. Indeed, the jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president, satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office,” the statement read.

Onanuga warned Jonathan to be wary of PDP cheerleaders, claiming that “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.”

The presidential spokesman claimed that Nigeria’s current economic challenges began under Jonathan’s watch.

“We cannot forget in a hurry how his regime, devoid of any clear economic agenda, engaged in frivolous spending, ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits. The nation’s economic downturn, which President Tinubu is working very hard to overcome, actually began under President Jonathan,” the statement noted.

According to the presidency, “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.”

The statement said despite crude oil selling for an average of $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, “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.”

The presidency also accused the Jonathan administration of facilitating fraud in foreign exchange allocation.

“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,” the statement alleged.

Onanuga said under Tinubu, however, the current administration “has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy, removing the ruinous fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates, which paved the way for arbitrage to flourish.”

According to him, “the President has stabilised the economy in slightly over two years in office. In 2025 Q2, the Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.23%, the highest in four years, outpacing the 3.4% projected by the International Monetary Fund. Inflation decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years. The foreign reserves stand presently at $42. 03 billion. The Naira has virtually stabilised. Investor confidence in our economy has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria.”

The presidency added that Jonathan and others were welcome to contest the 2027 election.

“They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians who will not easily forget the recent past will not allow them to return to run it down again,” Onanuga declared.

Gana, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), had asserted that the PDP would offer its 2027 presidential ticket to Jonathan on a platter of gold if he was interested.

He described the former president as “a trusted leader with a track record of people-oriented governance.”

Quoting him, “I can confirm that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will contest the 2027 presidential election as PDP candidate, and you will vote for him to return as president again.”

The former minister recalled how Jonathan willingly conceded defeat in 2015 and congratulated an opposition candidate even before the election result was officially announced, saying the former president acted in the interest of national unity.

“Nigerians have seen the difference, and the difference is very clear. They are now asking us to bring back our friend, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,” he emphasised.

Gana also downplayed the leadership crisis rocking the PDP, insisting that the party is united and well-positioned to win the 2027 presidential election. “When there was a near crisis, the founding fathers convened a consultative conference in Abuja and addressed all the issues at that time. PDP is truly grassroots and democratic. That is why the people still love the party,” he said.

The former minister slammed successive APC administrations for poor handling of the economy, claiming that “this government has allowed evil gatekeepers to keep away foreign investors. That is their major problem. Nigeria is the best place to grow your money if the right policies are in place.”

2027: We’re Still Fixing Jonathan’s Mess, Presidency Blasts Jerry Gana is first published on The Whistler Newspaper