JONATHAN REPLIES EL-RUFAI: I spent N333m, not N64bn

ABUJA—Immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck

Jonathan, has denied claims by Governor Nasir el-

Rufai of Kaduna State that his administration

spent N64 billion to organize Nigeria’s

independence celebrations for three years.

According to the governor, Jonathan spent N13

billion in 2011, N15 billion in 2012 and N14 billion

in 2013 and N22 billion in 2011, bringing the total

to N64 billion.

However, Jonathan denied the claim, saying only

N332.6 million was spent during the three-year

period and chided el-Rufai for deliberately lying

to confuse the public and give his administration

a bad name.

Jonathan, who responded to the allegation

yesterday, described the huge figure as figment

of el-Rufai’s imagination and a fabricated lie by

a favour-seeker.

In a statement in Abuja, through his former

Minister of National Planning, Minister/Deputy

Chairman, National Planning Commission, Dr.

Abubakar Sulaiman, Jonathan said: “For the

record, a breakdown of our anniversary spending

between 2012 to 2014 amounted to N332.6 million.

“We challenge the Office of the Government of

the Federation to publish these details for the

consumption of the public.

“A breakdown of our spending for this event

between 2012 and 2104 goes thus: 2012, N107.6

million; 2013, N45 million and 2014, 180 million. So,

the question here is where did the billions, as

claimed by el-Rufai, emanate from?”

The former President said though he did not have

the figures for 2010 and 2011, expenditure for

the two years fell within the threshold of what

was spent in the last three years and there was

no attempt to overspend the country’s resources

as claimed by the governor.

He said his administration never budgeted nor

spent the outrageous amount alleged by el-Rufai

and pointed out that the increment in the 2010

celebration budget was due to the fact that the

nation celebrated its golden anniversary that

year.

Jonathan also explained that the increase in the

2013 anniversary spending to N174.8 million was

due to the incorporation of the National Honours

Award Investiture into the event, making it a

two-in-one celebration, which was actually done in

2014.

‘Don’t destroy history’

The former President warned government

functionaries to desist from abusing the immunity

enjoyed by them by destroying history and

trading lies just to earn cheap popularity or curry

favour from certain quarters.

He said: “It is high time government functionaries

desisted from abusing their immunity by

destroying history and trading on lies just to gain

cheap popularity or curry one favour or the other

from certain quarters.

“Perhaps former President, Chief Olusegun

Obasanjo, was right in his assessment of el-Rufai

when he said in his latest memoirs, My Watch,

that his vivid recollection of el-Rufai is his

penchant for lying, unfair embe-llishment of

stories and inability to sustain loyalty for long.

“That exactly is what el-Rufai has done with his

ungodly fabrication of lies against Jonathan’s

government.

“One hopes that President Buhari would be on

guard against being misled by the likes of el-

Rufai, who are hell bent on misinforming

Nigerians.” 

Source:Vangardngr