President Goodluck Jonathan
on Friday denied a claim by Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State that
he reported a serving minister who allegedly collected a $250m bribe
from an oil company without the President acting on the information.
A newspaper (not Saturday PUNCH) had on Friday quoted the governor, who is one of the seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors, as making the claim in an 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 is 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
governors claim as grossly irresponsible, false and mischievous.
He said no such communication took place between him and the governor.
He said the governors patently bogus
allegation was a callous attempt to impugn his (the Presidents)
integrity and cast aspersion on his administrations anti-corruption war.
Jonathan added that Lamido descended
into the unscrupulous, reckless and thoughtless peddling of arrant
falsehood in order to score cheap political points for personal and
sectional political gains.
He added that if the governor has
credible information about 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 the event that he is unable to do so,
the President said Lamido should be prepared 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 for their actions, he would not succumb to harassment and
blackmail by self-seeking politicians jostling for personal advantage.
The statement read, We have 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 act 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 made by the Governor in a radio interview
yesterday as an unacceptable and callous attempt to unjustly impugn the
integrity of President Jonathan and cast aspersions on the seriousness
of his Administrations efforts to curb corruption.
The allegation and the claim by Alhaji
Lamido that he informed President Jonathan of the acceptance of the huge
bribe by an unnamed minister is absolutely without any foundation in
fact or reality because no such communication has ever taken place
between them.
We abhor Governor Lamidos 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……..
