00:00Information from the Nigerian presidency has indicated that there is a plan by President Bola Ahmed Tanubu to begin legal action against the country former president.
00:10Good luck Abele Jonathan over sustained and continuous rumors in certain quarters that ex-president Jonathan may have indicated interest to recontest as Nigeria president in 2027.
00:21This, the special advisor to President Bola Ahmed Tanubu on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga said Jonathan is welcome to join the 2027 presidential electoral race, but Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land.
00:37Indeed, 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.
00:51It would be recalled that ex-president Jonathan was one of the most criticized presidents in Nigeria, with politicians, including President Bola Ahmed Tanubu who was then a chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN forming a coalition of all progressives Congress, APC to defeat the incumbent president in 2015.
01:12Currently, there is also a coalition formed by politicians in Nigeria, the African Democratic Congress, ADC to defeat and remove President Tanubu from office in 2027 and lately, reports indicated that the former president, good luck Jonathan is considering joining the African Democratic Congress, ADC, but no official announcement has been made.
01:36The speculation intensified after Jonathan met with ADC National Chairman, David Mark in late September 2025, amidst ongoing discussions about the 2027 presidential election.
01:49And Jonathan's closed-door meeting with ADC leaders on September 25, 2025, fueled widespread speculation about his potential run for the presidency on their platform.
02:01In a statement issued on Monday, Bayo Onanuga, the spokesperson to President Bola Ahmed Tanubu, said,
02:09As we begin the march towards the 2027 elections prematurely foisted on the nation by the desperation of the opposition ganging up against President Bola Tanubu despite his glaring giant economic strides,
02:23We are once again regaled with a cacophony of voices, most of them full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, to paraphrase inimitable William Shakespeare in one of his classic works, Macbeth.
02:35One recent statement that stands out in its absurdity is Professor Jerry Garners.
02:40The former Minister of Information and National Orientation, moving to draft former President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2007 presidential race,
02:51affirmed that the former president would contest the coming election on the platform of the discredited People's Democratic Party, PDP,
02:58which bequeathed the legacy of economic ruins, after 16 years of bad governance.
03:03Garner even deluded himself, asserting that the former president would defeat President Tanubu to reclaim power after 12 years.
03:12Professor, Garner of the defunct MAMSER fame is free to delude himself and engage in his usual comedy.
03:20After all, Jonathan's entering the race would provide another job for the Niger state-born former university don.
03:27However, we should caution former President Jonathan to be wary of the PDP sugar-coated cheerleaders.
03:35Politicians of Jerry Garner's ilk merely want to lure him into the race to satisfy their personal, political, religious, and ethnic interests.
03:44They will abandon him midstream, as they did in 2015, and leave Gentleman Jonathan in the lurch.
03:51Don't get us wrong, President Jonathan reserves the right to run if he wishes.
03:55It is his inalienable right to contest the presidency again.
04:00President Tanubu will wholeheartedly welcome him if he decides to enter the race.
04:05But Jonathan will have his date in the court of the land.
04:09Indeed, the jury will determine whether Jonathan, who was sworn in twice as president,
04:15satisfies the constitutional requirements and is eligible to contest the presidency and be sworn in, if successful, for a third term in office.
04:24Shorn of all those selfish considerations for which some PDP big guns find his candidacy appealing,
04:31President Jonathan will also have his encounter with the people as to whether he has anything new to offer after his disastrous six years,
04:39for which they voted him out in 2015.
04:41Let us remind ourselves about Jonathan's record.
04:46We cannot forget in a hurry how his regime, devoid of any clear economic agenda, engaged in frivolous spending,
04:53ran the economy aground and put the country in dire straits.
04:57The nation's economic downturn, which President Tanubu is working very hard to overcome,
05:03actually began under President Jonathan.
05:05The Jonathan administration severely damaged the economy, and all key indicators declined under his watch.
05:12Under him, the so-called business moguls allocated foreign exchange to import fuel,
05:18simply pocketing the dollars without importing anything.
05:21Some of those big men still have court cases on the issue today.
05:26Jonathan and his national security advisor, Colonel Sambo Dosuki,
05:31retired, freely distributed security funds to friends and cronies.
05:35In 2010, President Jonathan inherited a total of $66 billion,
05:41of which $46 billion was in foreign reserves and $20 billion in the noble but abused excess crude account.
05:48By 2015, when the people democratically removed him from office,
05:53the foreign reserves had fallen below $30 billion,
05:56and the excess crude account had been depleted to $2 billion,
05:59despite generating record revenue from crude oil sales that the country had never achieved in more than 25 years combined.
06:09It is on record that between 2010 and 2013, crude oil sold for an average of $1.100 per barrel.
06:16By December 2014, however, the Jonathan-led federal government could no longer pay salaries to federal civil servants.
06:24At least 28 states across the country owed workers huge salary arrears.
06:30In contrast, President Tanubo has taken bold decisions over the last 28 months to reset the economy,
06:37removing the ruinous fuel subsidy and abolishing multiple exchange rates,
06:42which paved the way for arbitrage to flourish.
06:45The president has stabilized the economy in slightly over two years in office.
06:49In 2025 Q2, the gross domestic product grew by 4.23%, the highest in four years,
06:58outpacing the 3.4% projected by the International Monetary Fund.
07:03Inflation decreased to 20.12% in August 2025, the lowest level in three years.
07:11The foreign reserves stand presently at $42.03 billion.
07:15The Naira has virtually stabilized.
07:19Investor confidence in our economy has been restored, and investors are betting on Nigeria.
07:25In plain language, the nation has turned the corner,
07:29and our people have started reaping the gains of the bold reforms instituted by the Tanubo administration.
07:35Road infrastructure is being boosted.
07:38Old roads are being reconstructed while new ones,
07:41like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokotoba-Dagri Highway,
07:45among others, are springing up.
07:48The government is addressing security issues in some parts of the country.
07:53We can go on and on, reeling out the many macroeconomic gains of the Tanubo administration.
07:59However, the point is that the PDP and Jerry Garner's co-travellers broke the economy.
08:05President Tanubo is fixing it.
08:07President Jonathan and others are welcome to the 2027 race.
08:12They broke the economy before, but millions of Nigerians,
08:16who will not easily forget the recent past,
08:18will not allow them to return and run it down again.
08:21Obsers who are unneeded, bringing youth to news in a more digital way.
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