Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan has decried what he described as the malicious and provocative falsehood against his person and members of his family, and warned that such lies neither help the people churning them out, nor Bayelsa state which he says needs peace.
Jonathan was, reacting to an online story, making the rounds, sponsored by a nebulous group, APC Reformation Group, asking him to return two bullet proof SUV vehicles, and the sum of N300m, allegedly given to him by APC’s David Lyon, whose inauguration as Bayelsa state governor was truncated by the Supreme Court, on its eve, to take care of his guests.
He wondered why he would be given such gifts when he, clearly, was not involved in the preparations for the aborted event.
He, therefore, challenged anybody carrying such stories, to point at the cars, and tell the world where, when, and how the sum of N300 million was given to him.
Following is the Press Release by Jonathan, signed on his behalf, by His Media Aide, Ike Eze.
“Our attention has been drawn to a malicious and false story planted in the social media by APC Reformation Forum, a nebulous group that claims kinship with the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, calling on the former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to “refund N300 million and bulletproof cars given to him by David Lyon, the APC candidate in the last governorship election.”
“The story which claimed that the alleged money and vehicles were part of logistics given to Dr Jonathan’s family to cater for their guests ahead of the botched inauguration is not only patently fictitious but malevolent, inciting and provocative.
“In the first place there was no reason for APC or anybody else to offer money and vehicles to the former President for logistics over an inauguration programme in which he was not involved.
“We make bold to state that there is no vehicle in the possession of former President Jonathan given to him by the All Progressive Congress. This is an insufferable lie. If anyone on earth knows of such a vehicle, they should expose the particulars of the said vehicle to the public.
“The claim by this group is therefore nothing but a fairy-tale scripted to tarnish the good reputation of the former President whom Nigerians and the rest of the world hold in very high esteem.
“We condemn in entirety this growing culture of sustained falsehood against the person and family of Dr Jonathan by shady and shadowy characters. We urge Bayelsans and Nigerians to disregard the story as it contains no grain of truth.
“It is a poor script written with the intention of causing distrust and inciting Bayelsans against themselves. What Bayelsa needs now is peace, unity and progress, and not this noxious orgy of mud-slinging and mischief-making.
“As far as we are concerned, the Bayelsa elections have been won and lost at the polls and the courts; we therefore urge all groups to accept the transition in good faith.”
