President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by a website –
RichestLifestyle.com - as the sixth richest African
President with an estimated net worth of $100 Million
U.S. Dollars.
The Presidency condemns the totally unwarranted
inclusion of President Jonathan in the publication
titled “Africa’s Richest Presidents 2014” as another
attempt to unjustifiably
portray the President as a corrupt leader and incite
public disaffection against him.
We categorically assert that there is no factual basis
for ranking President Jonathan as the sixth richest
African Head of State with a net worth of about $100
Million U.S. Dollars. As is well known, President
Jonathan has never been a businessman or
entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant. The
President has held public office since 1999 and has
regularly declared his assets as required by Nigerian
laws. He has had no personal income since 1999
other than his official remuneration as deputy
governor, governor, vice president, acting president
and president which are matters of public record
There has been no significant variation in the totality
of his personal assets as contained in his last
declaration to the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau in 2011 which, as can be verified, was a very, very far
cry from the $100 million figure now being bandied
about by Richest Lifestyle.com and other
irresponsible, copy-cat publications.
The clear and unacceptable imputation of the claim
that President Jonathan is now worth about $100
Million is that the President has corruptly enriched
himself while in office which is certainly not the
case.
We therefore demand a retraction and an unreserved
apology from Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who
have reproduced the offensive article. Otherwise, they
should be prepared to substantiate their libelous
claims against the President in courts of law within
and outside Nigeria.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
October 8, 2014
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