Dr Doyin Okupe says Jonathan has never condoned corruption

The Presidency said that the refusal of the Federal Government to probe Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, does not prove that President Goodluck Jonathan covers up corruption or mismanagement of public funds by his administration.

Dr Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, announced this position in a statement on March 30, 2014, Sunday.

According to Punch Newspaper, Dr Okupe previously said that the Federal Government could not set up a probe panel just on things that have not been substantiated as such:

“The information I have is that the House of Representatives is looking into the matter and they want to invite the honourable minister. Definitely, the right thing is to wait for the outcome of such an interaction before anybody can decide to do anything”.

However, the presidential aide responded on Sunday, said his words had been deliberately used against him.

“We wish to reiterate emphatically that President Goodluck Jonathan has never and will never condone any act of corruption no matter from which quarters such may come from.

“This clarification has become necessary as a result of a mischievous publication by a National Daily (The Punch), 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 (NNPC) implied that the President was encouraging corruption.

“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. 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,” Okupe said.

He called the front page story in the newspaper dated March 29, 2014, Saturday, as “absolutely detached and totally disconnected” from his telephone interview with a correspondent of the Punch.

“The said publication is, to put it mildly, patently misleading and unprofessional”. 

The aide confirmed that President Goodluck Jonathan upholds integrity, openness and accountability in the affairs of government. He also added that the president will never tolerate a cover up of any act of corruption by any person or agency of government.
It would be recalled that Minister Allison-Madueke has been also accused of financial recklessness, especially taking to consideration the latest accusation that she has spent N3.120bn in two years on the maintenance of a private jet.