The Presidency, on Saturday, insisted it would not probe the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Dieziani Alison-Madueke, because it does not possess the necessary documents needed to do so.
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.
“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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