From the Emerging report it looks like the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, may be forced to surrender himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] for questioning.
It can be recalled that Goodluck Jonathan denied all the allegations that he received a whopping sum of $200 million kickback, from the OPL 245 Malabu Oil deal.
On Tuesday night, Jonathan released a statement through his Media Aide, Ikechukwu Eze, described the report as “false in its entirety,”
This denial came against the backdrop of reports making rounds the media that Jonathan may have received up to $200 million in bribes, to approve the deal that has now become the subject of international investigation.
The report was based on an Italian court documents obtained by BuzzFeed, and Italian business newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore.
Eze said the report, “relied on hearsay evidence from a man of questionable character, who provided no substance to back up his false claim.”
He added that, the man quoted by the report said he “assumed that Jonathan would be bribed.”
Eze described as “clearly ridiculous”, the claim that Jonathan and a former Minister of Petroleum, Dan Etete, had known each other for years when Jonathan served as a tutor to Etete’s children, while he was a Minister.
“In the first place, the former President couldn’t have been a ‘tutor’ to Etete’s children, without first establishing contact with the family. This is because Jonathan met Etete who served as the Petroleum Minister in Gen. Abacha’s military regime for the first time under the succeeding civilian administration, when he was already the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. Even then, the fact remains that ex-President Jonathan, has never met any of Etete’s children”, he said.
He added: “It is instructive that this same old fable apparently intended to rubbish Jonathan’s name locally and internationally, is being recycled with more lies added to garnish the narrative, at a time the ex-President is making efforts to resolve the issues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
Eze said: “While in office and now that he is out of office, former President Jonathan did not open and does not own any bank account, aircraft, or real estate outside Nigeria. Anyone with contrary information is challenged to publicly publish same.”
The former President appealed to the media to report facts, rather than innuendo and gossip. “Dr. Jonathan cannot stop criminals from ‘assuming’, but he can and he will stop them from getting away with blatant lies”, Eze said.
