APC says Former President GEJ must be probed for corruption

The Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress said on Sunday said it was time former President Goodluck Jonathan was invited for questioning over the alleged looting of the nation’s treasury under his administration.

The APC chapter said it had now become indefensible to pretend that Jonathan did not know anything about the alleged corrupt practices of some of the public office-holders who served under him.

The party was reacting to Jonathan’s recent statement that he did not believe that his National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), who is currently facing trial, stole the $2.1bn budgeted for the purchase of arms.

The APC chapter, in a statement by its spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, said by rising in defence of Dasuki, Jonathan had thrown caution to the wind and was now treating Nigerians with contempt when he was expected to concentrate on how to redeem his image.

Igbokwe said it was surprising that Jonathan would be defending Dasuki at a time when some of the public office-holders who served under him had been refunding some of the money they stole.

The APC said, “Even as we concede that Jonathan is on a desperate bid to rehabilitate himself, we wouldn’t believe that a former President should be so contemptuous of the intelligence of Nigerians as to give the kind of defence he gave to Sambo Dasuki.

“We wonder what Jonathan makes of the horrid details that are emanating from the Dasukigate issue with shocking evidences, confessions and even refunds made by those that participated in that monumental corruption.

“To claim that Dasuki and his partners did not steal the arms purchase fund reveals the inner beliefs of Jonathan.

“One would have expected Jonathan to be cautious in seeking to advance very childish and inadmissible exculpation of his subordinates for glaring acts of corruption. We had expected that Jonathan would have striven to water down the lowly impression held of him by Nigerians and the international community by not deciding to be so patronising to clear cases of corruption by his subordinates.

“By Jonathan’s defence of Sambo Dasuki, we believe time has come for the security agencies to pick up Jonathan to tell the nation all that he knows of the many cases of corruption that happened under him.”