You are welcome to Alamukii Samir's Blog:250m bribery claim: Lamido lied against me –Jonathan

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 governor’s claim as
“grossly irresponsible, false and mischievous.”
He said no such communication took place
between him and the governor.
He said the governor’s “patently bogus
allegation” was a callous attempt 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” 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
Administration’s 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 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 about 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 the event that he is unable to do so, he
should be prepared 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
make corrupt public officials answerable for
their actions, it will not succumb to
harassment and blackmail by self-seeking
politicians jostling for personal advantage.”