Jonathan’s minister took $250m bribe, Gov Lamido alleges By Hassan Haruna Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has alleged that a minister in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet received a $250 million bribe from an oil company recently. The governor, who did not name the minister, alleged that in spite of the fact that he called the attention of the President to the fraud, Jonathan refused to investigate the matter. The governor made the disclosure in an interview aired on the Hausa service of Abuja based Vision (92.1) FM radio yesterday. He said: “Do you know that recently a top minister received a $250 million (about 42.25 billion) bribe for himself… he (the minister) is in the cabinet; he is in this current regime; he knows and I know, and I told the President”. Reacting to a question on whether some of the seven aggrieved governors (G7) on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would retreat if the going gets tough, Lamido said that all efforts to put him to shame had already been applied. “I’m pass the fear of investigation since even my son was arrested on charges of stealing N5 million… everything that can be done for me to be scared has already been done”, he declared. With regards to the current crisis rocking the PDP and the G7 governors, Lamido said the governors were not in any conflict with the Nigerian government, rather their concern was the future of their party, the PDP. “We are not in conflict with the Nigerian government; this Government is ours as well”, he declared. Reacting to insinuations that the G7 governors were not willing to embrace peace in the PDP, Lamido said “not fixing things is injurious to both Jonathan and Bamanga, and also ourselves because other political parties are looking closely at what is happening, and are praying for our party to crumble for them to profit. Therefore, we should know whether the crisis will move us forward or lead to our downfall”. Talking about the real grouse the G7 has against the party, Lamido disclosed that at present, the issue is not even about President Jonathan not running in 2015, but that Rivers state Governor Rotimi Amaechi be reinstated; PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur be sacked and a new National Working Committee (NWC) be elected. He dismissed the view that the G7 governors were disrespecting the President, saying that “the party is not his (Jonathan’s)”. Lamido accused those criticising the G7 governors, such as Tukur, Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Ali Gulak, and other ministers, of simply taking advantage of the situation and ignorant of the true struggles of the PDP from its beginning. The G7 governors including Lamido, Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Sokoto’s Aliyu Wamakko, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Rivers’ Rotimi Amaechi, Kwara’s Abdulfattah Ahmed and Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, have been at loggerheads with the leadership of the PDP over their discontentment with the way Tukur is running the affairs of the party. Lamido’s son, Aminu, was late last year arrested at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, and has charged with allegations of money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Aminu was arrested on December 11, 2012 at the Kano airport on his way to Egypt for alleged failure to declare the $50,000 in his possession. He allegedly declared only $10,000 to the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 17:00:47 +0000