Jonathan Speaks On Collecting N300m, Cars From David Lyon

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied allegations that he received huge sums of money as well as bulletproof cars from David Lyon or any member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The former Nigerian leader made the clarification in reaction to an allegation that he received the sum of N300m as well as bulletproof cars from the Bayelsa APC governorship candidate, David Lyon.

The reaction comes as a refutal of the allegation brought against Jonathan by the APC Reformation Forum which claimed the former President got the gifts ahead of the expected swearing-in ceremony of Lyon as the Bayelsa State governor which never held.

However, a statement on Wednesday, signed by Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan’s spokesman noted that the former President didn’t receive any such offering from Lyon or any other APC member.

He said the call by the group for Jonathan to “refund N300 million and bulletproof cars given to him by David Lyon, the APC candidate in the last governorship election” were false and baseless.

“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,” the statement read.

“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.”

Eze noted in the statement that political opponents should stop any attempt to blackmail his principal but rather join hands with other stakeholders to build Bayelsa State.

“It is a poor script written with the intention of causing distrust and inciting Bayelsans against themselves,” he said.

“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.”