₦airaland Forum

[size=14pt]Jonathan's 2007 declaration of $2.4 million in assets during the campaign also raised questions about how an academic and public servant could earn so much. [/size]Jonathan's wife Patience was indicted by the anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for money laundering in 2007. "He has a lot of baggage from the past," says Musa Rafsanjani, head of the Zero Corruption lobby group.

[size=14pt]RIBADU ON PATIENCE JONATHAN[/size]

Mallam, do you have anything to say to the controversy because it shocked quite a number of people about your purported exculpation of Mrs Jonathan - Patience Jonathan, there were some statements credited to you about,

Mallam Ribadu :, no this is about the Nuhu Ribadu that I am. A Nuhu Ribadu that has no sentiments against anybody or any individual. A Nuhu Ribadu who will be able to stand above everything and look at it on the basis of what is fair and just. A Nuhu Ribadu who can never crucify an individual simply because it is convenient.

No its not crucifixion , if she has a case to answer,

[size=14pt]Mallam Ribadu : (Cuts in) Let me tell you. Wait  There was a never when I was in the EFCC when we ever invited that woman to come and make a statement. Why should I come out now simply because it is easy and convenient for one to say so. When I was in EFCC I never I never I never invited Mrs Jonathan for questioning or take her statement.[/size]

There was a time they were playing politics. And it was not just here, so many peope are being accused of things. Petition was going round - all over not just one person.

And at the time when I was making a presentation to the senate, I went with all petitions against people and the way we worked in EFCC is that if there's a petition against you, we look to see if there's substance in it, we can verify and see whether it was something that was worth looking into or there's nothing. A lot of the petitions were politically motivated. And therefore when I went to the senate, I showed them that these are some of the cases we have, we are looking into it. Some of them we were ready to go to court, some of them we were investigating, some of them were not investigatable. Thats what I said.

And then there was another case of sufficient transaction that has to do with Bayelsa State. About a woman who did a business with Bayela State- contract it was 70million Naira of sufficient fiduciary report that we got. We investigated it and there was nothing connected with Mrs Jonathan. Even as at that time those who were desperately looking to make a political mile out of every opportunity decided to use that to link it with them simply because they wanted to kick them out of office at that time. It's not me that can help people in political things. That's indeed that was what happened

[size=14pt]Up to this very moment I ask people to bring out the case file they talking about. While she was invited or take a statement or anything. And you want me to come out and because I'm contesting against them? no never.[/size]

.they didn't say she was invited,

Mallam Ribadu : (cuts in) Wait, wait I have to say something here. Let me tell you. I have to say something here. There was a time they said she was caught with 13million dollars. Financial Times reported International Media reported this and that. This was so unfair I decided to keep quiet that time because if I spoke, people will say it was because I was looking for a job with the Jonathan Government. I have got to a point where I have nothing against them. I am going to contest against them. I want to kick them out of that office. So this is the time for me to come out and be the honest person that I believe I am. To say the truth without gaining from it. That's indeed that was what happened

When I was confronted, when I declared my intention to contest elections. Somebody came to me from the media to ask what about the Jonathan case. I said no, I have never taken statement from this woman. I have never taken her in for anything. Why should people want to use me for their own ends. I'm not the kind of person you can use

I don't even understand the controversy and I'm shocked about it. Simply because she's president wife, therefore we say it is OK. What is it? What kind of country is that? it's not just, it's not fair. I will be the last person to be used to malign people simply because it is convenient. I would not do it.

Nigeria's new acting president and commander in chief, Goodluck Jonathan waves to supporters.

Asked how his son came by his unusual name, Pa Ebele Jonathan once told a reporter that as soon as the boy was born, "I instinctively realized that this child has that element of fortune." Pa Jonathan, a canoe-maker from southern Nigeria, could not shake the thought. "I just said to myself, 'this boy is lucky,'" he said. "So I decided to call him Goodluck." The father's instinct proved true. But his son's good fortune would often come after the misfortune of others. In 1999, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was elected deputy governor of Bayelsa province in the south — only to become governor when his boss was arrested for embezzlement. This week Jonathan, elected Vice President of Nigeria in 2007, has become acting president after the country's parliament decided his boss, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was too sick to rule.

Jonathan will need more than luck to fix Nigeria. His most pressing job is to re-energize the peace process in the oil-rich southern Delta region. Talks to end the decade-old conflict with Delta rebels — they say they are fighting for a fairer share of the revenues from their land, and are also angry about the pollution caused by oil spills — was a central thrust of Yar'Adua's early presidency. Six months ago, Yar'Adua persuaded the rebels to agree to a ceasefire and mass disarmament in return for an amnesty, a small monthly stipend, a 10% cut of all oil revenues and promises of large-scale development. (See pictures of the two sides of Nigeria)

But last November the president, a chain smoker who has been ill for years, left for Saudi for treatment for a heart condition from where he is yet to return, and the peace process — and all Nigeria — were left in limbo. In December, the main rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), announced it had lost patience with the delay and re-started its campaign of attacks on pipelines and installations and kidnappings of Western oil workers. A few thousand gunmen with a thing for shades, bandoliers and fast boats had the global price of crude back in their crosshairs.

The arrival of a functioning president might change that. Until this week, little was known about the self-effacing Jonathan save for his fondness for a natty black fedora. But there are reasons to believe the 52-year-old might succeed in the Delta. His family is from the southern Ijaw tribe — the first time the rebels have been able to talk to one of their own in the presidency. And he knows his homeland. In 2007, Edwin Clark, a longtime mentor and powerful backer to Jonathan, took the then newly elected vice president to the wild and dangerous creeks of the Niger Delta. "He met some of the militant leaders," says Clark. "He is aware of their demands, their aspirations and he is aware of everything, the neglect of our people."

Jonathan is also well acquainted with the environmental damage oil has done to the Delta. He studied zoology, and later taught it at a university in the oil hub of Port Harcourt. He also once worked as an environmental protection officer in the region. "He will perform," says Clark, a political powerbroker in the south and then man who persuaded Jonathan to stand for vice president. (See if a military coup would help Nigeria.)

As if to prove how seriously he takes the issue, Jonathan's second action (after sacking the justice minister, who had campaigned most noisily against his promotion) was to call a meeting with the oil majors in Nigeria. The peace process was his top priority, he told executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. The rebels have already responded. On Feb. 12, MEND commander Mack Anthony told TIME he had declared a new 90-day ceasefire.

But knowing a problem is not the same as solving it. [b]Some doubt Jonathan has the charisma to succeed [/b]where so many predecessors — both civilian and military — have failed. Even Clark, who describes his protégé as "very humble, gentle, respectful and incorruptible; very quiet and intelligent," concedes that, "sometimes I felt he was rather too gentle to be effective."

And while Jonathan's southern origin may please the rebels, it is likely to annoy the northern Muslim political elite, which has dominated Nigeria's politics for decades. In the strange way of Abuja, the capital, this presidency was meant to be for a northerner. But with Yar'Adua sick and a southern Christian back in power, Nigeria's sectarian divide — which frequently results in large scale Christian-Muslim pogroms — could worsen. "I have no confidence in his leadership," Dr. Baba Ahmed, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, told TIME. "Jonathan is a frontline member of the Pentecostal church, which is the most vocal against Muslims."

The septuagenarian Clark, who has suddenly become one of the most influential men in Africa, is another factor. Nigerian leaders often come with a powerful mentor working behind the scenes; a backer whose office is the only way to get to the big guy. On Feb. 11, two days after his protégé took office, a mass of Nigeria's rich, powerful and wannabes — parliamentarians, former ministers, ex-governors, a former police chief and even the head of a state-owned television station — crowded into the expansive living room of Clark's Abuja mansion. Clark sensed his growing power. "I am [Jonathan's] political godfather," he told TIME, regarding the melee at his house with evident relish. (See how big of a threat are "Nigeria's Taliban."

And then there's corruption. Jonathan may have got the Bayelsa governorship through his boss' alleged misdeeds, but he is hardly free of the biggest impediment to progress in Nigeria: corruption. The election that saw Yar'Adua and Jonathan win office was described by the E.U. Election Observation Mission to Nigeria as "not credible" due to "lack of transparency and evidence of fraud," adding it had "no confidence in the results." Jonathan's 2007 declaration of $2.4 million in assets during the campaign also raised questions about how an academic and public servant could earn so much. Jonathan's wife Patience was indicted by the anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for money laundering in 2007. "He has a lot of baggage from the past," says Musa Rafsanjani, head of the Zero Corruption lobby group.

Baggage has a habit of slowing a leader down — just what Nigeria does not need. "He owes all Nigerians a duty to act fast," Lagos-based Guardian daily newspaper said in an editorial two days after his appointment. Or as the rebel commander Mack Anthony says: "Our man being at the helm does not mean our target has been achieved. If within 90 days Jonathan does not perform, we will go back to the creeks to re-launch the militancy.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964192,00.html#ixzz1Cw3EfBbz

The father's instinct proved true. But his son's good fortune would often come after the misfortune of others. In 1999, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was elected deputy governor of Bayelsa province in the south — only to become governor when his boss was arrested for embezzlement. This week Jonathan, elected Vice President of Nigeria in 2007, has become acting president after the country's parliament decided his boss, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was too sick to rule.

There is nothing to hide, as you can very well see," he added. The total worth of Jonathan's private residences is N67, 990,000 according to the declaration, which is already with the Code of Conduct Bureau. The residences include a four- bedroom duplex in Kpansia, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, valued at N15 million; a four-flat storey building extension of the family house in Yenagoa valued at N10 million; and a four-flat storey building. The rest are his seven bedroom village personal home at Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area, which was bombed days before his inauguration as Vice President, valued at N18 million and a five-bedroom personal residence in Gwarinpa, Abuja valued at N24, 990,000. Under the vehicles and household items, the Vice President declared assets of N41.8 million. They include a BMW car in Abuja valued at N15 million, generators, electronics, air conditioners, furniture, kitchen utensils and others in Kpansia, Yenagoa and Gwarimpa, Abuja valued at N26 million. The BMW car was declared as a gift while the other items were declared to have been procured from savings. Jonathan also declared vacant and undeveloped plots of his to the tune of N60.538 million. They include five undeveloped plots of land in Bayelsa State, two undeveloped plots of land in Cadastral Zone BO2 and AO6 in Abuja. He disclosed also a yearly income of N62, 072, 200. These comprise investments in stocks in 16 Nigerian blue chip companies managed by City-Code Trust & Investment Company Limited. His investments also cover four 16-seater passenger boats which he hires to companies and other agencies. The Vice President's total cash in Nigerian banks (Bank PHB, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, UBA and others) is put at N58, 984, 123. He stated that the total income includes personal savings and income from his investments including performing stocks and hiring of the boats. Niboro said the assets declared do not include those of the Vice President's wife.

monkeyleg:
Still no congent answer from Beaf and co.

monkeyleg:
@Papabrowne,

there is still the matter of where $2.4 milliom worht of assest came from?

tlops:
it was "post declared", to cover for his future looting as a VP, had he known he would be president he would have declared in billions.