The Presidency on Monday said former President Goodluck Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 elections but warned that his “dismal record in office” remains fresh in the minds of Nigerians.
It described as “absurd” the Peoples Democratic Party’s strategy to field Jonathan for the presidency on what it called a “discredited platform” which “bequeathed a legacy of economic ruins, after 16 years of bad governance.”
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made these assertions in a statement he signed Monday evening titled, ‘Former President Jonathan is welcome to the race. Nigerians will remember his dismal record in office.’
Onanuga said while the administration “wholeheartedly welcomes” Jonathan to the race, should he decide to run, the former leader would have to contend with both constitutional hurdles and public perception.
He said, “President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes. It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again.
“But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land…and 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 remarks followed comments by the former Minister of Information and chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, Professor Jerry Gana, suggesting Jonathan could return to power on the platform of the PDP.
He said, “President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes. It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again.
“But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land…and 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 remarks followed comments by the former Minister of Information and chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, Professor Jerry Gana, suggesting Jonathan could return to power on the platform of the PDP.
Gana said the ex-president, who left office in 2015 after losing to Muhammadu Buhari, would be well placed to challenge Tinubu in 2027.
But the Presidency dismissed the idea as political fantasy.
“Gana even deluded himself, asserting that the former President would defeat President Tinubu to reclaim power after 12 years,” Onanuga wrote, cautioning Jonathan to be wary of “sugar-coated cheerleaders” in the PDP who, he said, abandoned him once before and would do so again.
The PDP governed Nigeria for 16 years before being unseated by the All Progressives Congress in 2015.
The APC has consistently blamed the PDP for what it describes as structural weaknesses in the economy and institutions.
Onanuga accused Jonathan’s government of fiscal irresponsibility, corruption, and waste during a period of unprecedented oil windfalls.
Source: Punch
