The Senior Special Assistant to President
Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who said this in a
statement in Abuja on Saturday while reacting to the ongoing probe of
the minister by the House of Representatives, also said the President
had vowed not to condone any act of corruption from any quarters no
matter how highly placed.
He said, “We wish to reiterate
emphatically that President Goodluck Jonathan had never and will never
condone any act of corruption no matter which quarters such may come
from.
“This clarification has become necessary
as a result of a publication which suggested falsely that my response to
the planned probe by the House of Representatives on the hiring of a
private jet by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation implied that
the President was encouraging corruption.”
He added, “The true fact of the matter is
that it is the House of Representatives that claimed to be in
possession of certain documents relating to the leasing of private jets
for which they decided to institute a probe. Continue.
“The Presidency is not in possession of
such papers neither has any petition relating to such issue been
received by the Presidency. Therefore, the Presidency is not in any
position to investigate a matter that it has no fact or presentation on.
“It therefore becomes imperative that
that the Presidency awaits the outcome of the on-going investigation by
the House of Representatives before it can undertake any reasonable
action.”
Okupe stated that in his determination to
fight corruption in the country, the President endorsed and directed
that an alleged non-remittance of about $10 billion into the national
coffers by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation be subjected to a
forensic audit by reputable international audit firms as suggested the
minister of finance.
This he said, was a clear indication that
President Goodluck Jonathan upholds integrity, openness and
accountability in the affairs of government and will never tolerate a
cover up of any act of corruption by any person or agency of government.
Meanwhile, the Osun State Secretary of
the PDP, Major Raphael Towobola(retd.), has, in a petition sent to the
National Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu, stated the party may lose
the Osun State governorship election.
In the petition dated March 28 and
entitled, ‘Protest on my purported suspension as a state secretary of
Osun State PDP and need to ensure the conduct of a proper and credible
gubernatorial primary election in Osun State in order to secure
electoral victory,’ Towobola said there were pointers that the party was
going to field an unpopular candidate in the August governorship
election.
He said he had earlier sent a petition to
Mu’azu on February 27 on what was happening in the state chapter of the
party, but that he was astonished that he was suspended from office
for a month by a clique of the party in Osun State because of the
petition.
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