Politics
Why I did not declare my asset publicly – Goodluck Jonathan
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has explained why he failed to declare his asset publicly during his tenure as the Nigerian president.
This revelation was made in a book titled ‘Against The Run Of Play’ written by Olusegun Adeniyi.
He argued that declaring his assets publicly, could not reduce corruption in the country.
“It is not the President declaring his assets that will end Boko Haram and whether I am criticised from head to toe I will not declare my assets publicly; it is not right; I did not even want to declare my assets as VP but was forced by the then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
“The law is clear. A public officer should declare his asset, and if there are issues, then the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not,” Jonathan said.
“I declared under Yar Ádua because he did it, but it is not proper; it is not the president declaring assets that will change the country,” he insisted.
The book noted: “By refusing to make public his assets declaration, Jonathan easily played into the hands of the opposition that had started to define him as a corrupt leader.
“That characterisation hounded him throughout his tenure and would become a major campaign point in 2015.
“But if there was any corruption scandal that did incalculable damage to the credibility of his government, it was the mismanagement of the fuel subsidy funds,” the book noted.
It went further: “And with that, critical stakeholders, including organised labour unions and civil society groups-responded with anger and condemnation, vowing to challenge the Federal Government by calling for a nationwide strike.”