Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dared former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido to publicly bring forth evidence indicting him in the Malabu Oil scandal he(Lamido) alleged recently.
Jonathan made this known while reacting to a media report credited to Lamido, accusing the ex-President of passive interest in the November 16 governorship race won by the All Progressives Congress, APC.
According to Lamido, Jonathan sacrificed the PDP to buy peace from the President Muhammad Buhari-led government who has vowed to unravel the circumstances surrounding the Malabu oil deal.
Lamido was quoted as saying; “The leadership of the APC and the government are blackmailing Jonathan and I think I can say it anywhere that he traded this for his own freedom, ” adding that, “Jonathan worked against his party because he was very, very angry with (Governor) Dickson. It was because he (Jonathan) sure knows his problem with Buhari and his government. And the issue of Malabu, I think, played a key role”.
Reacting in a statement signed by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, the former President said: “It didn’t matter to him (Lamido) that, as a well-respected member of the society, he shouldn’t make such weighty claims against a former President if he was only guessing like he admitted.
“We really do not know why Mr. Lamido, chose to speak like he did, especially with such hostility, contempt and lies against former President Jonathan. However, one thing is clear: In his anger and apparent bile-filled disposition, Mr. Lamido, an otherwise astute and erudite politician, obviously dropped the ball by electing not to speak responsibly like a statesman.
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“Apparently seized by some inexplicable resentment, Lamido held on to the lie currently being pushed by a few mischief-makers to the effect that former President Jonathan helped the APC to win the last gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State.
“Unfortunately, the former governor jumped into this convenient bandwagon of grovellers without first thinking of the burden of substantiating his claim. What to do? Orchestrate a raft of incongruent drivel of cheap lies to confuse the readers.
“This absurd claim definitely would have gained more traction in the public space if it really made any sense. But it didn’t. What, if we may ask Mr. Lamido, is the correlation between Jonathan supporting APC because he was angry with Governor Dickson and Jonathan supporting APC to avoid prosecution over Malabu?…the statement read in part.