Goodluck Jonathan Speaks On Move To Influence Tinubu’s Ministerial Nominees

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has debunked the reports on an alleged move to influence the nomination of a minister from Bayelsa State in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

CityNews Nigeria earlier reported that some chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State had knocked Jonathan over an alleged attempt to nominate the state’s ministerial slot in Tinubu’s incoming cabinet.

The stakeholders under the aegis of the Bayelsa APC Elders Council, on Tuesday in Yenagoa, the state capital, said the former Nigerian leader cannot reap where he did not sow.

However, Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Ikechukwu Eze, described the allegation as false and malicious.

The ex-president said some politicians in the state might have wrongly interpreted his recent visits to the Presidential Villa.

According to Jonathan, the visits were to brief 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 since he is the Chairman of ECOWAS Council of the Wise.

The statement read, “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.”