Goodluck Jonathan Speaks On Ministerial Nominee
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied any move to influence the nomination of a minister from Bayelsa State in the government of President Bola Tinubu.
Some elders from the Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, had condemned alleged attempts by Jonathan to nominate the state’s ministerial slot in Tinubu’s incoming cabinet.
The stakeholders under the auspices of the Bayelsa APC Elders Council queried Jonathan’s plan to produce a minister after actively and openly supporting the candidate of his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
However, Jonathan in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Ikechukwu Eze, said some politicians in the state might have wrongly interpreted his recent visits to the Presidential Villa.
According to the statement, the former President said the visits were to brief President Bola Tinubu, who had just been elected as the Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, on the recent developments in the sub-region, since Jonathan himself was the Chairman of ECOWAS Council of the Wise.
He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a strange allegation in the media claiming that former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is seeking to nominate a minister from Bayelsa State for the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“We would have ordinarily ignored the falsehood, given that neither the authors who are shadowy characters nor their nebulous organisation, Bayelsa APC Elders Council, which is unknown to the structure of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, command any credibility.
“However, we have continued to receive calls from friends and well-wishers who are concerned that some innocent Nigerians might be misled by the duplicitous fabrication; hence this rebuttal.
“We state without equivocation that the publication is false, malicious, preposterous and unnecessary. It is instructive that the authors of the hackery who are quick to spin such unfounded narrative could neither provide any clarification on the nature of the alleged consultations nor name the beneficiary of the envisaged nomination.
“We can only guess that a handful of faltering low profile politicians might have wrongly misinterpreted Jonathan’s recent visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, even when the former President, who is ECOWAS mediator in Mali and Chairman of ECOWAS Council of the Wise, clearly explained that he had gone to brief President Bola Tinubu, who has just been elected as the Chairman of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, on the recent developments in the sub-region.
“The publication is simply a tactless ramble by some benighted politicians seeking to draw attention to their hopeless plight by raising malicious allegations against the former President.
“Howbeit, they have failed in this bid because most astute politicians within and outside Bayelsa State are well aware of Jonathan’s selfless and exemplary disposition to politics and statesmanship. Such people will never subscribe to the cheap blackmail from the so-called Bayelsa APC Elders Council.”
