President
Goodluck Jonathan on Friday denied a claim by Governor Sule Lamido of
Jigawa State he reported a portion minister who allegedly collected a
$250m bribe from an oil company without the Pres Saying anything.on the
information.
A
source had on Friday quoted the governor, who is among the seven
aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors, as making the claim in a
interview with an Abuja-based radio station on Thursday.
Lamido
was quoted as saying:
“Do you know that recently a top minister received a $250 million (about 42.25 billion) bribe for himself… he (the minister) is in the cabinet; he's in this current regime; he knows and I know, and I told the President.”
But
Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity,
Dr. Reuben Abati, described the governor's claim as “grossly
irresponsible, false and mischievous.”
He explained no such communication took place between him and the governor. He explained the governor's “patently bogus allegation” was a callous try to impugn his (the President's) integrity and cast aspersion on his administration's anti-corruption war.
Jonathan added that Lamido descended into “the unscrupulous, reckless and thoughtless peddling of arrant falsehood” to be able to score cheap political points for personal and sectional political gains.
He
added when the governor has credible information regarding a minister
receiving the said amount as bribe as he claimed, he should publicly
name the minister involved and provide evidence to support his
allegation.
In
case he is not able to achieve this, the President said Lamido should
anticipate to offer an unreserved apology to him and Nigerians for what
he called
“his unwarranted and unjust effort to denigrate, disparage and
malign the President and the Federal Government.”
The
President said while his administration would continue to make corrupt public officials answerable because of their actions, he
wouldn't succumb to harassment and blackmail by self-seeking politicians
jostling for personal advantage.
The
statement read,
“We've noted with much regret, the grossly irresponsible, false and mischievous claim by the Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido that President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to behave on information that a serving minister recently collected a bribe of $250 million from an oil company.
“The Presidency views the patently bogus allegation reportedly produced by the Governor in a radio interview yesterday as an unacceptable and callous try to unjustly impugn the integrity of President Jonathan and cast aspersions on the seriousness of his Administration's efforts to curb corruption.
“The allegation and the claim by Alhaji Lamido he informed President Jonathan of the acceptance of the huge bribe by an unnamed minister is absolutely without the foundation actually or reality because no such communication has ever taken place between them.
“We abhor Governor Lamido's descent to the unscrupulous, reckless and thoughtless peddling of arrant falsehood in a puerile effort to score cheap political points against President Jonathan for personal and sectional political gains.
“If,
as he claims, Alhaji Lamido has credible information regarding a
minister receiving the said amount as bribe, he should publicly name the
minister involved without delay and provide evidence to support his
allegation.
“In case he is not able to achieve this, he should anticipate to offer an unreserved apology to the President and Nigerians for his unwarranted and unjust effort to denigrate, disparage and malign the President and the Federal Government.
“While the Jonathan Presidency will continue to create corrupt public officials answerable because of their actions, it won't succumb to harassment and blackmail by self-seeking politicians jostling for personal advantage.”
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