Skip to main content

Hamzat is a liar, I didn't offer him $5m bribe - Jonathan

- Goodluck Jonathan has claimed he didn't offer to pay bribe to Obafemi Hamzat in 2015

- Hamzat had claimed he was offered $5 million bribe by the former president during the 2015 general election

- The former president described Hamzat as a compulsive liar who shouldn't be offered such a prestigious post as the deputy governor of Lagos state

Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, has denied the allegation that he offered $5 million bribe to the All Progressives Congress deputy governorship candidate of Lagos state, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, during the 2015 general elections.

In a statement issued on Sunday, December 30, by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, the former president said he never met Hamzat during the 2015 elections, The Nation reports.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a claim by the running mate to the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, that he rejected a $5million bribe from former president Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 elections.

READ ALSO: Zamfara government takes over medical bills, expenses of soldiers injured by bandits

“There is no better way to respond to this frivolous claim than to quickly dismiss it as a blatant lie apparently concocted by a wannabe politician desperate for votes in a campaign season.

“In the first place this character is an obscure individual who in 2015 had neither a recognizable name nor political clout. The point has to be clearly made that former President Jonathan has never met this man who was obviously not relevant in the national politics of 2015, let alone seek to offer him bribe.

“If the former President did not offer anyone bribe, having clearly acquitted himself as a man who does not believe in desperate politics, how on earth could he have sought to compromise an individual he didn’t even know and who obviously had no means of helping him politically?

“Assuming anybody had $5 million dollars to spend to better his political fortune as Mr. Hamzat claimed, why seek to waste it on man who was just a commissioner prior to 2015, and whose best outing so far is to function as a hand-picked running mate to a governorship candidate in the forthcoming 2019 elections?”

According to the ex-president, it is the action of people like Hamzat that conjures up in the minds of Nigerians the Biblical ‘Mark of the Beast’ to the effect that to be accepted in his party, one must be adept at telling lies.

Jonathan who described Hamzat as a compulsive liar, added that he shouldn't be respected or offered such a prestigious post as the deputy governor of Lagos state.

He said: “This definitely should not be the character and colour of a person who wants to become a governor or deputy governor of a state, lest we lose all hope in the expectation that we have all it takes to rescue our country from the bleak future that stares it in the face.

“What we know about liars is that they always leave a loose end which readily exposes them for who they are. Otherwise, Mr. Hamzat should have been bold enough to tell Nigerians where the money was presented to him and in whose presence the offer was made.

“We have always made the point that there should be a limit to these lies, if we must make progress as a democratic nation. Nigerians are not fools. It is high time those in positions of responsibility stopped running this country on lies."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Legit.ng earlier reported that Hamzat said he rejected alleged bribe of $5 million from former president Jonathan during the electioneering campaign in 2015.

The disclosure was made on Friday, December 28, at the launch of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat Advocates held at Fidimaye Hall, Oko-Oba, Abule-Egba area of Lagos state, The Nation reports.

Hamzat, who contested the governorship ticket of APC with the incumbent governor of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode, said he refused the alleged bribe because he was thinking about the future and did not want to ruin his reputation.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

Lagos Governor: Is Sanwo-Olu a better candidate than Ambode? - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng



from Nigeria News today & Breaking Naija news ▷ Read on LEGIT.NG 24/7 http://bit.ly/2Te8XWy
via EDUPEDIA24/7

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis : 

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi