THISDAY

Jonathan Denies Raid on His Residence, Discovery of Stolen Loot

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Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has denied the video and news report alleging that there was a raid in his residence and that loot was discovered by the raiders who are members of the Nigerian police.

In a statement signed by the activist and former Adviser to Jonathan on Social Media, Reno Omokiri, the former president said the report was allegedly circulated by agents of the All Progressiv­es Congress (APC)-led federal government purported to be videos of a police raid of the home of President Jonathan, and in which huge sums of money were found.

“Let it be known that no police officer or any other security agentstorm­ed any of the residences of former president Jonathan and no cache of dollars or any other foreign currencies have been found in any of his residences and indeed none can be found because no such stash exists.

“Nigerians may want to recall that there was a curious burglary of the former President’s house in 2017. The motive of that incident or who was behind it may never truly come to light until sometime in the future, but even during that burglary, no monies were discovered in the house and only sundry properties and electronic­s were stolen,” the statement said.

It recalled that on March 7, 2014, Jonathan declared to Nigerians as follows “I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad.

“That declaratio­n remains true today as it was then. Furthermor­e, the former president, in keeping with the cashless policy which his administra­tion introduced and fully implemente­d, does not keep huge cash at his residence. Jonathan is a modest man and whatever he has by way of cash and property are the results of his legitimate earnings.

“He is the most investigat­ed living former president in Nigerian history. That nothing implicatin­g has been found on him should not lead his traducers to become desperate and, fabricate evidence and circulate it as propaganda,” the statement also said.

The statement therefore urged Nigerians to be on the alert to fake news circulated by desperadoe­s via WhatsApp and other social media platforms and intended to malign the good name of Jonathan.

“Finally, I advise anyone willing to take my advice that the only way to make progress in Transparen­cy Internatio­nal’s Corruption Perception Index is to fight corruption and not the opposition and to do the fighting in the courts and not in the media.

“That is how the Jonathan administra­tion was able to achieve Nigeria’s best ever performanc­e on Transparen­cy Internatio­nal’s Corruption Perception Index in 2014 when Nigeria improved by eight places from 144 to 136,” the statement added.

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