Presidency accuses Jonathan of forex racketeering, diversion of security funds, says ex-president ruined Nigerian economy

The Presidency has launched attacks against the rumoured presidential ambition of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2027.
Though the Bola Tinubu-led administration declared that Jonathan is free to contest the 2027 presidential election, it however warned that Nigerians will not forget the “dismal record” of his administration, which it described as a period of economic ruin and mismanagement.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement on Monday, further accused Jonathan’s administration of frivolous spending, foreign exchange racketeering, and the diversion of security funds under his then National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

The presidential spokesman cautioned Jonathan against allowing himself to be “lured into the race” by opposition leaders, particularly Prof. Jerry Gana, who recently hinted at moves to draft the former president into the contest under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Onanuga said Jonathan, who was voted out in 2015 after six years in power, left behind a battered economy despite record oil earnings.

According to him, Jonathan inherited $66 billion in reserves in 2010—$46 billion in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the Excess Crude Account—but depleted them to less than $30 billion and $2 billion respectively by 2015.

“Despite oil selling at an average of $100 per barrel between 2010 and 2013, Jonathan’s government still failed to pay federal workers’ salaries by 2014, while at least 28 states owed workers huge arrears,” Onanuga stated.

The Presidency stressed that Jonathan’s eligibility itself remains questionable, since he has been sworn in twice as president.

“The courts will ultimately determine whether he satisfies the constitutional requirements to seek another term,” Onanuga noted.

While acknowledging Jonathan’s constitutional right to run, Onanuga said his candidacy would remind Nigerians of the hardships under his tenure, contrasting it with Tinubu’s “bold reforms” that, according to him, have stabilised the economy.

He listed the removal of fuel subsidy, unification of exchange rates, GDP growth of 4.23% in Q2 2025, reduced inflation at 20.12%, improved foreign reserves of $42.03 billion, and restored investor confidence as evidence that Tinubu is “fixing the economy that Jonathan and his PDP co-travellers broke.”

“Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race.

“But millions of Nigerians who will not forget the past will not allow them to return and run the country down again,” the statement concluded.