The Administration of former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has denied reports attributed to the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai, that the administration spent over N64 billion on Independence anniversary celebrations in five years.
In a statement signed by the immediate past Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, the group of ministers under Jonathan said that the administration spent N332.6 million on Independence anniversary celebrations from 2012 to 2014.
Sulaiman, who described the claim as tissue of lies, challenged the office of the government of the federation to publish the amount spent on the Independence anniversary celebrations from 2012 to 2014 for the consumption of the public.
According to him, the Federal Government under Jonathan spent N107.6 million in 2012, N45m in 2013, and N180 million in 2014.
He said while the amounts spent on the anniversary celebrations in 2010 and 2011 were not immediately available, they were in the same bracket with the other years.
He said there was an increase in the total sum spent on the celebrations in 2010 because of the Golden Jubilee celebration, adding that the sum budgeted was not the outrageous amount quoted by the governor.
He wondered where El-Rufai got the billons which he said was spent on the anniversary celebrations in five years.
“We were taken aback by the recent comment reportedly credited to His Excellency, Governor Nasir El-rufai, where he claimed that the immediate past President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration spent N64 billion to cover the country’s Independence anniversary in five years.
“This tissue of lies was contained on his Facebook comment on Thursday. Ordinarily, we would have allowed this to go as just the ranting of a favour seeker, but for the sake of the ordinary Nigerians, who were abreast of happenings under the administration and also those who never did, we will like to set the record straight.
“It is important to correct the misinformation so that the unsuspecting public would not be misled. For the record, a breakdown of our anniversary spending between 2012 to 2014 amounted to N332.6million. We challenge the office of the government of the federation to publish these details for the consumption of the public.”
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