Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga has dismissed moves by opposition leaders to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2027 presidential race, describing it as a desperate ploy by the PDP to reclaim power despite its “legacy of ruin.”
In a statement made available to The News Chronicle on Monday, Onanuga singled out ex-Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, for what he called “delusional claims” that Jonathan could defeat President Bola Tinubu at the polls.
“Prof. Gana is free to entertain himself with such comedy. But Jonathan must beware of PDP cheerleaders, who used and abandoned him in 2015. They will do it again,” Onanuga warned.
While acknowledging Jonathan’s constitutional right to contest, he stressed that the former president would face both legal hurdles having been sworn in twice already and public scrutiny over his troubled record in office.
Onanuga reeled out what he called Jonathan’s “trail of economic wreckage”: depleted foreign reserves, a looted Excess Crude Account, diversion of security funds, and salary arrears in at least 28 states despite record-high oil revenues averaging $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013.
“By 2015, Jonathan left reserves below $30 billion, the Excess Crude Account stripped to $2 billion, and the country drowning in unpaid salaries. That was the economy Nigerians voted out,” he said.
By contrast, Onanuga credited President Tinubu’s “bold reforms” for stabilising the nation in just over two years. He highlighted the removal of fuel subsidies, unification of exchange rates, and infrastructure projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. According to him, GDP grew by 4.23% in Q2 2025, inflation dropped to 20.12% its lowest in three years and reserves now stand at $42.03 billion.
“In plain terms, the nation has turned the corner. Nigerians are reaping the gains of Tinubu’s reforms,” he said.
Dismissing PDP’s comeback bid, Onanuga concluded: “Jonathan and his allies broke the economy before. Nigerians will not hand it back to them to wreck again.”
