The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Jonathan

  • 2019: Jonathan, wife plot to hijack PDP structures in Bayelsa

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, are working desperately to hijack the strictures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 general elections.

     It was gathered that the former first family was scheming to ensure that Governor Seriake Dickson lacked the capacity to make an input in selecting his successor.

     Besides, it was learnt that Jonathan desired to use the control of the state’s PDP platform to present a strong argument on why he should fly the Presidential flag of the party in 2019 despite reports that the position had been zoned to the north.

     A source and PDP chieftain, who spoke in confidence, said the plot was real, adding that for the former President to present himself as a candidate he must be seen to be in charge of the state.

    He said despite the efforts of Dickson, the wife of the former President had never liked him and had been working intensely to either remove him or wrestle the party structure from him.

     The source said Jonathan and his wife were not happy that Bayelsa was not among the state’s executive committees dissolved by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

     He said Patience later mandated Jonathan’s godson, Mr. George Turnah, who is being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to write a petition against Dickson and the PDP leadership in the state.

  • Corruption: Group demands Jonathan’s prosecution

    Corruption: Group demands Jonathan’s prosecution

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    A Civil Society group, known as the Forum for Accountability and Justice, has  called for the arrest of former President Goodluck Jonathan, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged monumental corruption said to have  characterised his administration.
    The group, in a statement issued on Wednesday in Portharcourt, and signed by its leader, Comrade Luke Akartaka, queried why the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, has refused, to call Jonathan, to question, over the numerous mind revelations of monumental frauds and embezzlement of public funds, under his government..
    The group, faulted the continued treating of the former President, as a sacred cow, “even in the face of damning revelations, against him, especially now,  that many of those, who served under his government are already returning stolen funds.”
    “It is very regrettable, that today, not even we the people of the Niger Delta region, where the former President hails from, have nothing, to show for producing a President, who was in office for six years and all we knew, of his legacies, are the cases of corruption, that are now in monumental proportions.”
    The group said the EFCC, can no longer continue to exonerate Jonathan, from his subordinates’ proven acts of corruption.
    For this country’s anti-corruption crusade, to be deemed successful, the group said the time has come for the EFCC to pick up Jonathan to tell Nigerians all that he knows of the many cases of corruption that happened under him.

  • Jonathan’s mea culpa

    If there is one topic that former President Goodluck Jonathan shies away from, it is the fight against corruption. Even when he was in office between 2010 and 2015, he could barely mention the 11-letter word. To him, it is anathema to discuss corruption the way Nigerians want it discussed. Nigerians can be emotive when talking about corruption because it is a cankerworm which has destroyed the fabric of society.

    While other countries are progressing, we are lagging because of corruption. Truly, corruption did not start with the Jonathan administration, but it was elevated under that government. Some revelations today have shown that we were lucky that the government lost the 2015 election or else, we will be in worse situation by now. Jonathan seems to have his ears to the ground going by what he said at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention in Abuja on Saturday. He hit the nail on the head when he said the talk in town is that the economy would have been worse off if the PDP had remained in power beyond 2015.

    Before the 2015 election, Nigerians had become fed up with PDP. Things were so tight for the governed, but those in power were enjoying. The painful thing is they were doing so with public funds. They were dipping their hands into the till and helping themselves to our commonwealth. As president, Jonathan was expected to call these people to order, especially his ministers, who saw their privileged position as an opportunity to steal the nation blind. Men, did they loot the treasury? You can ask that question again. What we are hearing today about funds and properties recovered from some of these former ministers would not have come to light if the Jonathan administration had remained in office till now.

    Would the government have told Nigerians about the arms funds, which its National Security Adviser (NSA) Col Sambo Dasuki managed and dispensed as he liked? Would it have told us about the millions of dollars allegedly kept in some safe houses and banks by his Petroleum Resources Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke? Would it? It won’t because all of them slept and faced the same direction. Alison-Madueke is alleging that she is being castigated for nothing because, according to her, she served the country to the best of her abilities. In a statement that has gone viral, she said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was witch-hunting her, reeling out all she did to reform the petroleum sector during her tenure. She denied that money was found in her account, saying she did not know where the EFCC got the cash from.

    To show how ‘special’ she and her ilk are, Alison-Madueke said ‘’the fight against corruption in Nigeria will be far better served if the EFCC focuses on incontrovertible facts, as opposed to media sensationalism and completely distorted stories, in their bid to demonise and destroy a few chosen Nigerians’’. Really, many are called, but only the few, who are true to their calling, are chosen. Alison-Madueke can never be among these few no matter how hard she  tries to burnish her image. It is too late in the day for that. She can only get the people’s sympathy if she comes up with hard facts on how she came by her stupendous wealth. It is all the fault of Jonathan, who once defended stealing while trying to draw a line between stealing and corruption.

    If our president could say on air that stealing is not the same thing as corruption, can he be counted on to move against his ministers if they stole? That statement emboldened his ministers to do whatever they liked with public funds since oga has said stealing is not corruption. It was a statement unbecoming of his office. It was a remark, which made us a laughing stock in the comity of nations. By speaking that way, Jonathan inadvertently endorsed graft and opened the way for  his ministers to pilfer the treasury. The message he sent to them was if una no steal na una know.

    His remarks at the PDP convention showed that he allowed corruption to thrive under him. He spoke like an accused  brought before a judge, who in his plea, said “I am guilty with explanation”. The standard practice is to plead guilty or not guilty after the charge has been read to an accused. But if the accused has something to hide, he will try to dress up his plea to, in his thinking, win the judge’s sympathy. But unknown to him, by so doing, he is shooting himself in the foot. Court: Are you guilty or not guilty? Accused : I am guilty with explanation. In law, there is nothing like guilty with explanation. Guilty is guilty.

    So,  Jonathan’s reason for not winning the corruption war is not tenable. Of his own volition, he has admitted that he is guilty as charged. The former president has told the whole world that his administration was corrupt through and through. So, where lies his claim that the Buhari administration has been hunting him and members of his family? If he could say what he said, is he not lucky that he is only being hunted and has not been hauled before the court to face trial? If an accused spoke like that in court, he would end up in jail.

    “Though we did not completely plug the loopholes in the fight against corruption, we did well’’, he said to the applause of members of his party. ‘’Did well’’? With what yardstick did he measure that when he did not tackle corruption frontally? Jonathan has said all we need to know about his administration and PDP. The party is not one to be trusted with the leadership of any country. We are where we are today because of its mismanagement of the economy  for 16 years (1999 – 2015). Instead of burying its head in shame for bringing the country to its lowest low, the party is thinking of coming back to power in 2019. I do not blame PDP; the fault is that of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which appears not to know what to do with power. And this is a party, which held out much hope for the country just three years ago. We are doomed as a nation if APC cannot get it right before the next election.

    APC would have shut PDP up for good if it had made the people to feel its impact in the last two years. Yes, it is fighting corruption. But governance is not all about fighting corruption alone. The masses are yearning for the betterment of their lives, a robust economy, uninterrupted power supply, good infrastructure and security of life and property. Until the APC is able to fulfil its obligation to the people, the PDP will continue to shoot its mouth and try to hoodwink Nigerians to return it to power. But, what has PDP got to offer that it did not show us in its first coming which lasted 16 years? Perhaps, it wants to return to continue the looting from where it stopped in 2015. But, is it PDP’s fault? No, it isn’t. APC has given it the munition with which to fight its way back to power.

  • Jonathan performed better than Buhari, PDP insists

    THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leadership yesterday revved up the attack on the Muhammadu Buhari administration, insisting that former President Goodluck Jonathan performed better in the economic sector than the present All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the opposition party said it was shameful and embarrassing that having been in power for two and a half years, the ruling party is unable to point to cogent, convincing and data-driven achievements.

    Jonathan had, at the PDP convention on Saturday, declared, among others, that his administration had a sound economic team, adding that it was able to keep inflation at a single digit, compared to the present 16 per cent rate.

    The former President’s statement was greeted with harsh criticism from a number of government officials, who retorted that Jonathan bequeathed a flattened economy to the administration as a result of unbridled corruption in virtually every sector.

    “We have read comments made by the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, Special Assistant to the President on Media Mallam Garba Shehu and other senior members of the ruling party, such as former Governor Segun Oni and the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria Dr. Osita Okechukwu, where they attempted to rubbish the comments made by former President Goodluck Jonathan that his administration performed well during his term in office.

    “It is our firm belief that these statements were borne out of ignorance, lacking in depth and are devoid of the sort of critical thinking that one would expect from highly placed government officials.”

     

     

     

  • Jonathan under attack for ‘we did well’ claim

    Jonathan under attack for ‘we did well’ claim

    Ex-President should apologise, says Oni 

    Sagay: claim irresponsible

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has received knocks for praising his administration after  admitting that he “failed to completely plug the loopholes in the fight against corruption”.

    Jonathan, who spoke in Abuja at the convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said his administration “did well”. He explained that he “learnt that some people said that if the PDP had remained in power beyond 2015, the economy would have been worse”. “This couldn’t have been the case, because we had a sound economic team in place,” the former president said.

    Jonathan said his administration provided focused leadership through institutional and sectoral reforms which impacted positively on the fundamentals for growth to the extent that inflation was at single digit and the economy was rebased to become the largest in Africa.

    The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecutions, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, disagreed with former President Jonathan’s claim that his administration performed creditably.

    Obono-Obla said the past administration was “scandalously corrupt” and that Jonathan had a false impression of his administration’s performance

    Obono-Obla, who is also the chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, said the former president was speaking with both sides of the mouth.

    He said: “Only a very honest man will say his mother’s soup pot is not good and Jonathan is not a very honest man, with due respect to him. If he were honest, how can he say that food prices stayed low? It is not true. It is not true that the Nigerian economy was very sound.

    “He ran a voodoo economy, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. There was massive unemployment, massive inflation; there was shortage of petroleum products, there was oil subsidy which led to trillions of naira subsidy fraud.

    “So, how can he say that the economy was sound, that it was well managed? The bumbling incompetence of his government is what has manifested in what we saw when we went into a recession shortly after we took over when we met an empty treasury.

    “If he said his government didn’t block loopholes of corruption, that is an admission that his government was chronically scandalously corrupt and which is true, because we have not seen that kind of mindless looting of government resources and money which has manifested in his former minister looting what would amount to the budget of the entire northern states for about four years.

    “He said the economy was sound when there were a lot of leakages through which billions of dollars were siphoned from the economy.”

    Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni, cautioned the former president against “talking about what he did or failed to do as far as corruption is concerned”.

    He urged him to apologise to Nigerians having failed to fight corruption as there were no results to show for his efforts.

    “It is very unfortunate that a former President will say that. There is the saying that there is no mark for effort. The only mark you get is for results.

    “It does’t matter how much a man tried; if he does not have a result to show, what he should just do is to keep quiet and that is what I will advise him to do as far as corruption is concerned.

    “The results are very shameful. I think he should just be asking for forgiveness.”

    Voice of Nigeria Director-General Osita Okechukwu also said the ex-president should apologise to Nigerians for betraying their trust and expanding the loopholes of corruption which plunged the nation into its current state.

    Okechukwu said: “My own sincere assessment is that our dear ex-president, rather than plug loopholes of corruption; opened it wide. He should apologise to Nigerians who he betrayed for being less than transparent. I was outraged when I heard him proclaim that PDP will return to power in 2019 because of the hunger and poverty ravaging the country”.

    “The Nigerian economy could have collapsed if President Buhari didn’t come to the rescue. Jonathan relied on voodoo economic records which rated the Nigerian economy higher than that of industrialised South Africa. An economy with 40,000 MW to Nigeria’s less than 4,000MW. ”

    He added: “Jonathan and his cohorts assume that many of us will easily forget how on 13 May, 2010, his regime announced publicly with joy the award of $23 billion contract for the erection of three Greenfield refineries; one to be erected in Bayelsa, one in Kogi and one in Lagos.

    “Today, we see neither the refineries nor the billions of dollars at a time Nigeria’s Excess Account hovered around $17 billion. The refineries could have saved Nigeria over $200 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products till date.

    “Jonathan should just keep quiet, especially now that the hunger and poverty he imposed on us are getting too harsh.

    .”He propelled his preferred Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and other cronies to loot dry our dear countrymen. Example, latter day revelations are showing how $80 million was used by Mrs Madueke’s ally to purchase a luxury yacht, money which could have been utilised to build the best hospital in Yenogoa. Or is he not reminding us of the humongous foreign exchange used in buying choice estates locally and abroad?

    “In sum, the biggest headache of Buhari administration is the huge local and foreign debt amassed by the PDP’s 16 years misrule.

    “On bailout fund and Paris Club refund, Buhari has spent over N1 trillion on salary and pension arrears. He has also paid over $7 billion on obligations to International Oil Companies (IOC) with the little he got.”

    Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) Prof Itse Sagay said Jonathan never fought corruption but deepened it.

    “We are investigating nearly $470 billion stolen and all the villas around the world his cronies bought. We are looking at over $2 billion and endless amount that disappeared under the former National Security Adviser (NSA). We are investigating former Chief of Army Staff he appointed, who diverted whopping amount of public funds. His shameless statement just shows the level of self-deceit by the former president. It is unbelievable.

    “This country is very lucky that the current administration took over the government from the hands of the party of plunderers, which could have ruined us all.

    “If Jonathan had remained in office, we would all, by now, be carrying Ghana-must-go bags to go look for employment in other countries.”

    Sagay added: “Of course, the inflation might have been reduced when he was in the saddle when his cronies emptied the treasury and blowing money all over the place, spending public funds on luxurious and irresponsible things. There was a lot of money they were throwing about, which did not belong to them. If they didn’t empty the treasury, maybe the inflation rate would have been better now. But, they finished the whole money in the nation’s coffers. What the Buhari administration is doing is digging us out of the big hole the PDP put us to.

    “That is why there is inflation. Jonathan and his political party are the cause of the economic problem we found ourselves today. All this joblessness, misery, kidnapping and the despicable crimes being committed are as a result of lack of funds for ordinary human activities.

    “In fact, the PDP and its members are a curse to this country. For them to ever dream that they would come back to power, that is the wildest and irresponsible dream anyone can contemplate.”

    National Chairman of United Progressives Party (UPP) Chief Chekwas Okorie said: “I want to be charitable to Jonathan for admitting that he scored himself a failure in the area of the fight against corruption and above average in area of economic development.

    “I must say that Jonathan failed on both sides. A government that lasted that long was supposed to provide development for the country. The economy did not improve under his government; rather than improving, his administration laid the foundation for our going into recession. Corruption thrived under Jonathan to an unimaginable level.

    “He gave tacit support to corruption and when he began to say stealing was not corruption, one could see that he was not against corruption.”

    Afenifere Publicity Secretary Yinka Odumakin said: “It is true that Jonathan did not fight corruption headlong just like other administrations had not fought corruption sincerely in the country. There is no administration that has met the yearning of the people, when it comes to the fight against corruption.

    “This is because the foundation of the fight against corruption has not been properly laid. The foundation was laid with corruption, so it is not possible to fight corruption in a badly laid foundation that is supposed to fight corruption.”

    The National Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Prof. Bankole Okuwa, described the ex-president “as a non-starter”, adding that it was most unfortunate that he became the president. “We don’t need someone like him and honestly his wife made him to fritter away over N2 billion; what an embarrassment. Jonathan and his wife should be in jail by now. If Buhari was  not lenient with him, he should be in jail.

    Former Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olrunnimbe Mamora said Jonathan’s statement was an admission of failure to act appropriately to curb corruption during his tenure.

    Mamora said: “It is an admission of some measures of guilt in terms of approach in curbing corruption under his watch. He has admitted he didn’t do much as expected by the people. It is an admission of not doing much in line of expectation of the people.

    “His admission that he failed to curb corruption under his watch is an indictment on his administration; and a stain that cannot be removed.”

    Mamora noted corruption was one of the low points of Jonathan government; it is in the book of  history that his administration was the most corrupt; he has only confirmed that a lot of untoward happened under him.

    Lawyer and public affairs analyst Monday Ubani was surprised that Jonathan had at last admitted that there was corruption during his tenure.

    He said Jonathan knew all along when he was in power that there was high level corruption in the country but he refused to admit. The magnitude of corruption under him has cost us development in this country in terms of infrastructural development. “His intransigence has retarded our progress”, he stated.

    The second National Vice President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) said Jonathan should seek forgiveness from Nigerians.

    “Even if he was forgiven, I doubt if Nigerians would allow his party  (PDP) to return to power after looting the treasury,” he added.

    Constitutional lawyer Wahab Shittu advised former President Jonathan to maintain a dignified silence.

    He said: “The reality is that  corruption thrived to unprecedented height during his tenure.Corruption not only became the  elephant in the room, it was  elevated to  a fundamental Article of Faith with frightening consequences on the economy with  the people  worse hit in terms of living standards and negative image to our country.

    “These days we are daily assaulted with unimaginable disclosures of  massive looting of our commonwealth with accusing fingers being pointed at senior officials of his administration many of who said they acted on the basis of authorisation of the former president.

    “Until the former president clears himself of these allegations he has no moral right to raise his voice in public commentary on the affairs of our country.

    “The former president handed over a postrate economy with the country plunged into economic recession for which it is yet to recover. From mind boggling allegations of massive looting of our commonwealth to alleged divesion of resources meant for arms procurement to private pockets including massive corruption in the electricity sector and other sectors of  the economy,  the country took a turn for the worse,  it was an era when the former president publicly pronounced that stealing did not amount to corruption.”

  • Farmer arrested for killing plantain thief

    Farmer arrested for killing plantain thief

    A farmer at Odighi village in Ovia North East local government identified as Moses Erutuya has been arrested for killing one Jonathan who stole his plantain.

    Moses who was paraded alongside 43 other suspects at the police headquarters in Benin City said the deceased had been stealing from him since 2007.

    He said he killed Jonathan by hitting him with a stick.

    His words, “I started the farm in 1998. In 2007 while waiting for the plantain to mature, somebody went there and stole 60 bunch. I complained and was told nobody will guard my farm for me. Since then, I have been monitoring the farm. Luck ran against him this 2017 when he stole 35 bunches. I traced him to where he wanted to sell them.

    “He said the plantain was not mine. He stole seven bunches from my farm. I asked him to go and show me where he got others. On our way, he stopped. The wood he used to hold his bike, I took it and hit him on the head and he died. His family was looking for him. They came to me and I told them I left him to go but I later took them to where the body is. I want government to forgive me.”

    State Police Commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, said the suspect would soon be charged to court.

     

  • N11tr wasted on electricity under Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, says report

    N11tr wasted on electricity under Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, says report

    OVER N11 trillion was allegedly squandered under the administration of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan on the pretense of providing regular electricity supply, a report has claimed.

    Based on the report by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), activist lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged state governments to generate and distribute their own electricity.

    He said the states have a constitutional responsibility to generate, distribute and transmit electricity to improve the well-being of their people.

    Falana spoke at the launch of report, titled: “From darkness to darkness: How Nigerians are paying the price for corruption in the electricity sector”, at Weston Hotels, Ikeja.

    The report was supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

    The learned silk, who was chairman at the presentation, told states to challenge the laws restricting them from generating electricity in their domains.

    He described the power Reforms Act of 2005, which concentrate power and electricity on the Federal Government and private firms, as “largely illegal”.

    “That’s why we are challenging state governments,  stop going to Abuja, stop begging Federal Government to give you power to establish electricity companies in your state.

    “You have the right. If individuals can do that and generate electricity they needed, why should you go to Abuja to get a licence to generate electricity in your state?” he asked.

    Falana said it was high time for states to begin to exercise their constitutional rights by challenging the control of electricity generation, distribution and transmission by the Federal Government.

    According to him, “Items 13 and 14 of the schedule to the constitution stipulate that state government shall have power to generate electricity outside the national grid.

    “It goes further to say that the House of Assembly of each state shall make a law for the establishment of electricity boards in all states. But they are not there to provide electricity for the people outside the national grid.”

    In the 65-page report presented to reporters by an Associate Professor, Energy/Electricity Law in the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos , Akoka,  Yemi Oke, the organisation stated that the estimated financial loss from corruption in the electricity sector starting from the return to democracy in 1999 to date was over  N11 trillion.

    It said the money included “public funds, private equity and social investment (or divestments) in the power sector”.

    “It is estimated that may reach over N20 trillion naira in the next decade given the rate of government investment and funding in the power sector amidst dwindling fortune and recurrent revenue shortfalls,” the report said.

    It said: “The country has lost more megawatts in the post-privatisation era due to corruption, impunity, among other social challenges.

    The report launch was also attended by the Director General/Chief Executive of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Babatunde Irukera and Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, who was represented by Director Public Affairs EFCC Mr. Osita Nwajah.

    Both promised to work to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report.

    The report accused Dr. Ransom Owan-led board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of allegedly settling some government officials with N3 billion as severance package.

    The report called for the reopening and effective prosecution of corruption allegations, including the alleged looting of the benefits of families of the deceased employees of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) levelled against a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power.

  • Jonathan greets Makarfi at 61

    FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Senator

    Ahmed Makarfi on the occasion of his 61st birthday.

    In a message of felicitation to Makarfi, Jonathan described him as deeply committed to strengthening Nigeria’s democracy.

    He also thanked God for sustaining the party chairman and positioning him to play key roles in the affairs of the nation.

    Jonathan, who conveyed this in a statement issued by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, further stated that Makarfi had made significant contributions towards Nigeria’s growth.

    The statement reads: “On behalf of my family, I wish to most sincerely congratulate you on your 61st birthday.

    “We thank God for his grace in not only sustaining you, but also positioning you to play key roles in the affairs of our nation.

    “Your contributions towards the realisation of the development goals

    of our dear country are quite significant. Whether as a governor, legislator or party leader, you have acquitted yourself well as a patriot who has made indelible marks with manifest dedication to national development.”

  • Makarfi committed to democracy – Jonathan

    Makarfi committed to democracy – Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday described the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, as someone that is deeply committed to the strengthening of Nigeria’s democracy.

    Jonathan, who stated this in a message to Makarfi on his 61st birthday, thanked God for sustaining the party chairman and positioning him to play key roles in the affairs of the nation.

    In the statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, the former President said Makarfi had made significant contributions to Nigeria’s development.

    The statement said: “On behalf of my family, I wish to most sincerely congratulate you on your 61st birthday.

    “We thank God for His grace in not only sustaining you, but also positioning you to play key roles in the affairs of our nation.

    “Your contributions towards the realization of the developmental goals of our dear country are quite significant. Whether as a governor, legislator or party leader, you have acquitted yourself well as a patriot who has made indelible marks with manifest dedication to national development.

    “You are a bridge builder who has displayed uncommon wisdom and deep commitment to the strengthening of our democracy and national growth.

    “I join your family and numerous admirers to wish you more productive years in your determination to see Nigeria evolve into a nation of our collective dreams.”

  • Thieves stripped my house bare, says Jonathan

    Thieves stripped my house bare, says Jonathan

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that his house was stripped bare of all valuables and movable items by those who burgled it.

    A statement by the ex-President’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, said six policemen were under arrest.

    The statement said movable items in the house, including furniture sets, beds,

    electronics, toilet and electrical fittings and all internal doors and frames were stolen.

    It reads: “Following series of enquiries from journalists and other concerned Nigerians on the extent of the reported vandalisation and theft in the house of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan located in Gwarinpa Abuja, we therefore would like to make the following clarifications:

    “The theft was discovered last month upon which a report was duly lodged with the relevant police authorities.

    “The police immediately commenced investigations, which led to the arrest and detention of some suspects, six of whom were policemen, even as investigations continue.

    “The house, which the former President bought from CITEC estate developers in 2004, was totally stripped bare by the thieves who stole every movable item in the house, including furniture sets, beds, electronics, toilet and electrical fittings, as well as all internal doors and frames.”

    But against media reports, the statement said only six television sets, three refrigerators and one gas cooker were stolen.