Jonathan Admits being Investigated For Corruption

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

FORMER President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that he is being investigated for graft by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, however insisted that his government apart from not leaving empty treasury as believed in some quarters strategically fought against corruption in a different dimension.

According to Jonathan, his approach of eradicating corruption was largely to prevent funds accessible to some public officeholders. Meanwhile, various huge amounts of money running in billions of naira recovered from public officeholder under Jonathan’s watch since the inception of President Buhari’s administration in 2015 were inconsistent with the former president’s claim.

 In an interview with Bloomberg Television in London which was aired yesterday, Jonathan assured that the threats by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) will be peacefully resolved adding that the authorities can reach an agreement with militants in the Niger Delta to stop their attacks that have slashed production.

Asked to evaluate the alleged corrupt practices leveled against him, Jonathan declined stating that such statement would be prejudicial to the investigations.

“Certainly, I am being investigated by the present administration on corruption. However, I wouldn’t want to make certain comments because, when a government is working, it’s not proper for immediate past presidents to make certain statements.

“I will allow the government to do the work it’s supposed to do. I wouldn’t want to make serious comments on that; it’s not proper.

“After all, these investigations, the whole stories will be properly chronicled. I have just left office and I should allow the President and his team to do what they believe is good for the country.”

“Definitely, it will be resolved; yes, government can always overrun restive movements and so on, but the Niger Delta is too delicate. The level of damage will be too much for the government to bear. We used dialogue,” he said.

It would be recalled that a militant group known as Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility on various attacks on facilities belonging to some oil companies, including Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Agip Oil Co. thereby affecting the nation’s oil sector which at the moment is the sole source of revenue to the federal government causing Nigeria’s output to drop to an almost 30-year low of about 1.4 million barrels per day.