I do not have accounts or property abroad, says Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he has no accounts or property abroad.

Jonathan responding to a report by Bloomberg that public officers, including former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience; former ministers of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke and Rilwanu Lukman are to make public their account statements .

Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General, was reported to have said that Nigeria is asking for “all documents concerning any transactions to, from, or for the benefit” of Jonathan and his wife between 2009 and the present day to help in an ongoing probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

But the former president said the Federal Government did not contact him or his wife before issuing these subpoenas. If they had, he and his wife would have advised them and that the government cannot ‘subpoena what does not exist.”

He went on to say that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded his administration, and that that government 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,”

The statement, signed by Ikechukwu Eze, spokesman to Mr Jonathan, reads

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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.”

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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 image is the paramount duty of her government, because it is not possible to belittle Nigerians without belittling Nigeria.”

”Finally, we state that the signing of the P&ID contracts preceded the Jonathan administration, and that that government 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,” he stated.

A spokesman for P&ID said Malami’s application is “nothing but an absurdly overbroad fishing expedition” arguing that the AGF manufactured a claim of fraud and bribery to avoid paying the judgement debt that amounts to about 30% of the country’s foreign reserves.