Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied allegations that he is sponsoring the Niger Delta Avengers. This is the second time in less than a month that Jonathan is making this denial and it follows a report in some newspapers quoting a presidency source who said the current government has begun probing the ex-president and his wife, Patience.
Jonathan said in his statement that the reports are being sponsored by those who feel intimidated by his rising profile in Nigeria and abroad.
“There is no doubt that there exists such people who may have scores to settle with the former President but are now feeling frustrated by the fact that his national and international profile has continued to rise, despite their recourse to endless muck-raking character assassination,” said Ikechukwu Eze, spokesman to the ex-president. “Such people will stop at nothing to continue to throw obstacles, albeit futilely, on his path.”
Newspaper reports on Thursday had quoted an unnamed source who said that the game plan of the former President and his associates was to use the NDA to “cause enough economic damage” and force the hand of the Buhari administration to “pursue a political solution to the damaging corruption cases against them for which investigations were already advanced, and thereby avoid prosecution and the attendant unprecedented shame of having a former president go to jail.”
Jonathan however debunked the reports, saying some misguided characters are hell-bent on pulling him down despite his “clear record of diligent service.”
