Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has replied the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu.
Recall, that Tinubu had during his
address at the presentation of a book, titled: “Making Steady
Sustainable Progress”, authored by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Media
Aides, at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, accused
Jonathan’s administration of institutionalising corruption in Nigeria.
Jonathan, in his response to Tinubu’s
claims that “so much money grew feet and ran away faster than Usain Bolt
ever could, and that his administration won a gold medal in
corruption”, however, said that facts have rather deserted the APC
Leader, faster than Usain Bolt.
The statement reads thus: “Again my
attention has been drawn to disparaging comments made by Mr. Bola Ahmed
Tinubu against former President Goodluck Jonathan and his
administration. In the said comments, Mr. Tinubu said ‘The prior
government used the public treasury as a private hedge fund or a charity
that limited its giving only to themselves’,” he said.
“So much money grew feet and ran away
faster than Usain Bolt ever could. That which could have been spent on
national development was squandered in ways that would cause the devil
to blush.”
“Speaking further, the former Lagos
State Governor said: ‘Boko Haram would have taken more territory, and
more lives would have been lost to insurgency if Jonathan had remained
in power’.
“I would now address these allegations
point by point, using verifiable facts. First of all, the only global
body for monitoring corruption is Transparency International, which
releases an annual Corruption Perception Index. It is a fact that
Nigeria made her most improvement in Transparency International‘s Annual
Corruption Perception Index in 2014 under President Jonathan when we
moved from 144 to 136, representing an improvement of 8 points.
“Transparency International observed the
Jonathan administration’s fight against the corruption in Nigeria’s
fertilizer procurement regime, the use of technology to remove 50,000
Federal ghost workers, and the speed at which the then President fired
Ministers accused of corruption or conflict of interests.
“From that time until today, Nigeria has
not made any improvements and has remained at 136 where Jonathan left
us, because Transparency International deals with facts, not opinions or
media trial. Other than media sensationalism, there have been no
convictions of financial misappropriation stemming from the Jonathan
era. However, we do know that it is a fact that the allegedly corrupt
pension thief, Abdulrasheed Maina, was dismissed and declared wanted by
the Jonathan administration. We also now know that it is a fact that the
present Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, met with
Maina, in Dubai.
“We know that Maina’s family revealed in
a Press Conference that Maina was invited back to Nigeria by the
present government. It is also a fact that Maina was recalled,
reinstated, and given double promotion by the current administration.
Moreover, we know from the Head of Service’s leaked memo that President
Muhammadu Buhari was aware of this entire saga. Perhaps Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu mistook the Usain Bolt speed at which Maina was smuggled back
into the country and reinstated for the unproven claims of corruption
under Jonathan. We also know that it is a fact that $25 billion worth of
contracts were awarded at the NNPC without due process.
“It is also a fact that this is the
highest ever such amount involved in Nigeria’s history. Again, perhaps
it is this amount that Tinubu meant when he said: ‘So much money grew
feet and ran away faster than Usain Bolt ever could’. Or perhaps he was
referring to Babachir Lawal.
“Nigerians should note that on the 7th
of March 2014, then President Jonathan said, ‘I am loyal to Nigeria’s
economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad’. Till date, nobody
has been able to contradict that statement, because it is true.
“Can Bola Tinubu or anybody in the APC
leadership make a similar claim? On the issue of Boko Haram and
terrorism, it is a fact that there is only one global body recognized to
monitor terrorism, and that is the Institute for Economics and Peace
(IEP), which releases the Annual Global Terrorism Index. It is a fact
that between 2013 and 2014, Nigeria under President Jonathan was
unfortunately listed as the fourth most terrorized nation in the world.
However, in the latest Global Terrorism Index released yesterday
(November 15, 2017) by the Institute for Economics and Peace, Nigeria
has deteriorated from where Jonathan left it, and is now the third most
terrorized nation.
“In 2015, President Jonathan ensured
that elections held in every Local Government in Borno State, but last
month, the United Nations declared that they could no longer operate in
certain Local Governments of Borno State. So who is fooling who? So, if
according to Transparency International, Nigeria was less corrupt under
Jonathan than it is today and according to the Institute for Economics
and Peace, Nigeria is more terrorized today than it was under Jonathan,
it becomes clear that Bola Tinubu has no factual basis to make the
claims he made.”
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