President Goodluck Jonathan has described as ‘baseless and libelous’ the claim that he is worth $100 million, making him the 6th richest African leader.
In a statement signed by Dr Reuben Abati, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Pres. Jonathan said the claim was “another attempt to unjustifiably portray the President as a corrupt leader and incite public disaffection against him.”
A website, RichestLifestyle.com said President Jonathan was the sixth richest African President with an estimated net worth of $100 Million.
Abati noted that it was wrong for anyone to conclude that Jonathan was worth $100 million since he had been a public servant all his life.
“As is well known, President Jonathan has never been a businessman or entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant. The President has held public office since 1999 and has regularly declared his assets as required by Nigerian laws. He has had no personal income since 1999 other than his official remuneration as deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting president and president which are matters of public record.”
Abati said the publication was another was meant to portray Pres. Jonathan as a corrupt leader. He explained that the president has not dipped his hands in public till.
“There has been no significant variation in the totality of his personal assets as contained in his last declaration to the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau in 2011 which, as can be verified, was a very, very far cry from the $100 million figure now being bandied about by Richest Lifestyle.com and other irresponsible, copy-cat publications.
The clear and unacceptable imputation of the claim that President Jonathan is now worth about $100 Million is that the President has corruptly enriched himself while in office which is certainly not the case.”
“We therefore demand a retraction and an unreserved apology from Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who have reproduced the offensive article. Otherwise, they should be prepared to substantiate their libelous claims against the President in courts of law within and outside Nigeria.” he concluded.
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