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| Goodluck Jonathan |
FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan
has denied the allegation that he acquired a £15m mansion
in the United Kingdom during his tenure as the President of Nigeria as alleged in some quarters.
A former Editor of the UK SUN, Kelvin Mackenzie,
had reported in his weekly column on Saturday that
the former Nigerian President bought an
exquisite property in Surrey in the United Kingdom.
“I hear the aptly named Goodluck
Jonathan, the former President of oil-rich
Nigeria, has bought a 12,000
square foot house on the ultra-expensive
and well protected St George’s Hill estate
in Weybridge, Surrey.
“I’m sure he gained his wealth legitimately but
these houses are £10-£15million a pop, so,
perhaps the ex-President could explain where his money came from as he has been at the forefront
of the fight against his country’s corruption.
Surely, it can’t all have been
good luck.”
In response to the allegation, Jonathan, through his media
assistant, Mr. Ikechukwu
Eze, denied the report describing it as false and malicious, and demanded a
retraction from the newspaper.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
takes pride in the fact that he does not have any
property or accounts outside Nigeria. He stated
this publicly while in office and his commitment
to Nigeria’s economy remains total
even after he left power.
“As the Nigerian President who signed the
Freedom of Information bill into law, Dr.
Jonathan is well aware that the
United Kingdom is a nation with good
record keeping at county and national levels and as such, it will not take a serious and responsible media long to verify ownership of
property before rushing to the press with
potentially libellous publications.
“It is hoped that this publication will correct its
error and do a retraction and that other media
will likewise follow up on this
story to put the lie to the details
it contains”, he said in a statement.
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