A political group known as the Goodluck Jonathan Legacy Project (GJLP) has berated the recent negative remarks made by former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar against former President Goodluck Jonathan, in which he said Jonathan is politically inexperienced.

New Telegraph recalls that Atiku criticised the governance challenges encountered during Jonathan’s administration, describing Jonathan as ‘inexperienced’.

However, in a statement released on Thursday, the group’s National Coordinator, Hon. Engr. Juan A. Governor, a technocrat and politician, noted that such a claim by Atiku is demonstrably false and lacks merit coming from a “Career presidential candidate” who has repeatedly sought power without being tested at the highest level of national leadership.

Engr. Juan further noted that Atiku Abubakar lacks the tact to govern at the highest level, citing the political division and self-centeredness that have characterised his presence in every political party he has joined.

The statement reads:“ My attention has been drawn to the recent remarks by former Vice-President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which he attributed governance challenges during the Jonathan administration to ‘inexperience.”

“Before assuming the office, the president, Jonathan, served as Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President, and acting President. If this distinguished résumé qualifies as ‘inexperience,’ one wonders what standard the former Vice President considers adequate.

Perhaps, his own record of serial aspirations, which, by his own argument, should have translated into opportunity, has never been tested at the helm.

“Ordinarily, such a claim would not merit a response because the truth is self-evident. However, when historical revisionism is presented as analysis, it becomes necessary to correct the record.

“It is unfortunate that this statement is coming from a career presidential candidate who lacks the moral authority to speak about experience, where globally respected leaders are discussing leadership.

“If “experience’ is defined by being a serial presidential candidate, a role he seemingly hopes to reprise in 2027, then one must ask why such experience has failed to translate into national leadership for him.

“To describe Dr Jonathan as ‘inexperienced’ is not only misleading, it is demonstrably false. Before assuming the presidency, he served as Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice-President, and Acting President during the constitutional crisis following the illness of his former boss, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. If that résumé qualifies as “inexperience,” one wonders what standard the former Vice-President considers adequate.

“Throughout his years in politics, Atiku has shown a lack of the tact and experience required to govern at the highest level, proving to be a figure of political division in every party he finds himself.

“The Jonathan administration presided over one of the most reform-driven periods in Nigeria’s history. Under his watch, Nigeria became Africa’s largest economy, attracted the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the continent, and kept inflation at a single digit.

“According to World Bank data, Nigeria recorded its lowest poverty rate since 1999 under Jonathan. His administration brought down poverty to 35.8%, making his tenure the most prosperous of the Fourth Republic.

“His achievements in agriculture were equally notable. In 2013, he was honoured by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome for meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on hunger eradication well ahead of the 2025 target.
Furthermore, a leader’s credibility is measured by their international influence.

“Nigeria has served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council only five times since 1960; remarkably, two of those terms occurred during Jonathan’s administration. Similarly, it was Jonathan who facilitated the emergence of Dr Akinwumi Adesina as the first Nigerian President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2015.

“On democracy, Dr Jonathan set a standard that remains unmatched: he conceded power peacefully, placing national stability above personal ambition. That singular act, born of his far-reaching electoral reforms, did more to strengthen our democracy than decades of political rhetoric.

“Nigerians are discerning enough to distinguish between those who have held power and delivered measurable progress, and those who have repeatedly sought it while offering retrospective critiques. Dr Jonathan’s record is public, measurable, and enduring. No amount of convenient revisionism can erase it.” The statement concluded.