Former President Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to claim making the
rounds in the media that he worked against his party, the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, in the recent governorship poll in Bayelsa State because of the
Malabu oil deal.
He described
the claim as absurd and deliberately designed as a form of blackmail.
The former
President was reacting to former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, who had
claimed in an interview that he traded off the PDP in the last governorship
election in Bayelsa State because he was trying to avoid being prosecuted by
the government of President Muhammadu Buhari over the Malabu deal.
Lamido had said
the Federal Government used the Malabu case to blackmail Jonathan into
supporting the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State.
But Jonathan,
in a statement by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, said Lamido did not speak like
a statesman and described his claim as absurd.
He said,
“Ordinarily, we shouldn’t be responding to an interview of this nature because
it is obvious, given his amiable nature, former president Jonathan does not
consider the idea of joining issues with individuals on the pages of newspapers
a decent conduct.
“We are also
aware of the former president’s belief that truth always has a way of catching
up with statements rooted in lies and propaganda, such as this one.
Furthermore, we considered that when former president Jonathan was in office,
Lamido was one of the governors that worked closely with him.
“However, we
chose to make this clarification just to set the record straight, especially as
some of the former president’s close associates have been asking questions
about the blatant statement credited to Lamido.
“We really do
not know why Lamido, chose to speak like he did, especially with such
hostility, contempt and lies against former president Jonathan.
“However, one
thing is clear: In his anger and apparent bile-filled disposition, Lamido, an
otherwise astute and erudite politician, obviously dropped the ball by electing
not to speak responsibly like a statesman.
“He actually
came off the interview sounding like a sulking skunk, to whom logic or reason
meant nothing. It didn’t matter to him that, as a well respected member of the
society, he shouldn’t make such weighty claims against a former president if he
was only guessing, like he admitted. Hear him: ‘And the issue of Malabu, I
think, played a key role’.
“Apparently,
seized by some inexplicable resentment, Lamido held on to the lie currently
being pushed by few mischief-makers to the effect that former president
Jonathan helped the APC to win the last governorship election in Bayelsa State.
“Unfortunately,
the former governor jumped into this convenient bandwagon of grovellers without
first thinking of the burden of substantiating his claim. What to do? Orchestrate
a raft of incongruent drivel of cheap lies to confuse the readers.
“In one
breathe, Lamido alleged Jonathan worked against his party ‘because he was very,
very angry with (governor) Dickson,’ in another, he claimed it was ‘because he
(Jonathan) knows his problem with Buhari and his government. And the issue of
Malabu, I think, played a key role’.
“This absurd
claim definitely would have gained more traction in the public space if it
really made any sense. But it didn’t.
“What, if we
may ask Lamido, is the correlation between Jonathan supporting APC because he
was angry with Governor Dickson and Jonathan supporting APC to avoid
prosecution over Malabo?
“Where was
Lamido and his ‘Malabu problem’ when Jonathan campaigned vigorously and helped
PDP to win Bayelsa governorship election in 2015, under the same President
Buhari?
“It is
important to establish at this point that Lamido probably knows little about
the Malabu case, for which he was not supposed to have commented blindly.
“In the first
place, the Malabu oil block was not given out by Jonathan. It was a deal that
was sealed during the time of the late head of state, General Sani Abacha.
“We feel that
Lamido is in a position to know the business of oil exploration has an
international dimension, as such, it is clear, it is not only the Nigerian
government that is looking into the Malabu case.
“If that is the
case, he should also have known that there are at least, three other countries
outside Africa that are investigating the matter.
“Assuming
without conceding that the former president Jonathan is culpable as Lamido
alleged, would a trade off deal with the Nigerian government also free him from
blame in other countries like Italy, United Kingdom and the United States?
“Jonathan is
convinced that Lamido’s awkward intervention in this matter was deliberately
designed as a form of blackmail. Having tried many other ways to discredit the
former president to no avail, Lamido is now scheming to project Malabu as
Jonathan’s Achilles heel.
“Here again, he
has failed because the true story of Malabu is already known to Nigerians.
“Lamido, we
believe, is too smart not to realise when the pot conveniently calls the kettle
black, it is a grand design to confuse, deceive and cover up the truth.
“Lamido served
as governor of Jigawa State for two terms on the platform of PDP after which
the ruling APC took over his state. Is he then telling Nigerians that he cut a
deal with APC, helped the ruling party to procure victory at the poll and take
over his state?
“The fact is that
it is not only in Bayelsa State that the country had experienced such a
situation where PDP or even APC had lost elections to another party.
“Holding
Jonathan responsible for PDP’s loss in Bayelsa without first investigating the
issues that determined the fate suffered by the party in the state is not only
disingenuous but also detrimental to the image and aspirations of the party.”
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