Former President Goodluck Jonathan has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to stop belittling him as, according to him, he too did not belittle his predecessor when he in office.
He also told the Buhari administration that an effort being made to ascertain the amount of money he saved abroad would come to nothing because he, according to him, has no bank account beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Jonathan said these in response to a probe instituted by the FG towards unravelling suspected involvement of Jonathan, his wife, Patience; and ministers in the PI&D contract.
The FG is said to be planning to subpoena he and Patience’s bank records in the United States.
According to Bloomberg, the government is seeking all documents concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit of Jonathan and his wife between 2009 and the present day.
This is said to be towards making a success of the investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to know individuals in the P&ID (Process & Industrial Developments Ltd) gas deal.
Reports noted that although the EFCC found no direct evidence backing claim of public officers receiving payments from P&ID or its affiliates, the anti-graft body said 10 banks were “likely to have processed US dollar transactions connected to P&ID’s operations as either correspondent banks or the New York branches of foreign lenders”.
But Jonathan, in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Ikechukwu Eze, insists that he has no account anyone can investigate abroad.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to international media reports to the effect that the Federal Government of Nigeria has subpoenaed bank records for former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan in the United States of America.
“We aver that the Federal Government of Nigeria did not contact Dr Jonathan or his wife before issuing these subpoenas. If they had, we would have advised them of the fact that you cannot subpoena what does not exist.
We also remind the public that on March 5, 2014, during the swearing-in of new ministers, then President Jonathan said “I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad.
“We are confident in stating that between that time and now, nothing has changed with regards to Dr Goodluck Jonathan. He has no accounts in the United States of America and encourages US authorities to cooperate fully with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s subpoena.
“We would also like to state that during his tenure as President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan extended every courtesy to former Presidents and Heads of state because he believed and still believes that promoting, projecting and protecting Nigeria’s sovereignty and the image is the paramount duty of her government because it is not possible to belittle Nigerians without belittling Nigeria.
“Jonathan gave appropriate counsel to the incoming government in the handover notes of 2015, which advice if carried out, would have prevented the current unfortunate circumstances.”
