Enemies jealous of my rising profile –Jonathan

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan AFP
PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI

EX-President Goodluck Jonathan has again denied
allegations that he is sponsoring the Niger Delta
Avengers.
He added that the allegation was being sponsored
by those who were intimidated by his rising profile
in Nigeria and abroad.
The former President said this in a statement by his
spokesman, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, on Thursday.
There had been publications that the Muhammadu
Buhari-led Federal Government had begun probing
Jonathan over alleged link to the Niger Delta
Avengers.
The statement, however, said, “It is sad that the
publications wore the cloak of deceit from the same
misguided characters that are hell-bent on pulling
down the former President despite his clear record
of diligent service to his country and long-
standing commitment to the good of the society.
“There is no doubt that there exists such people
who may have scores to settle with the former
President, but are now feeling frustrated by the fact
that his national and international profiles have
continued to rise despite their recourse to endless
muck-raking character assassination. Such people
will stop at nothing to continue to throw obstacles,
albeit futilely, on his path.
“We are aware that the same people approached
other well-meaning newspapers with the same
false information, but they were wise to turn it
down on account of its absurdity.”
Jonathan advised the media to be professional and
do more of investigative reporting instead of
making reference to allegations of aggrieved
militants.
He said no responsible security agency would
release such falsehood to the press.
The statement added, “From what we know about
intelligence gathering, there is no responsible
government agency that would rush, as claimed in
the newspaper stories, to adopt the accusations of
a questionable rebellious organisation as its own
findings, without applying the professional
processes of rigour and due diligence.
“Our media houses should be careful not to make
the country a laughing stock by being hoodwinked
into passing off the perverted voices of irritant
groups as that of our well-respected official and
security authorities.”
The ex-President said newspapers promoting
spurious allegations against him were toying with
libel and destroying the image of Nigeria.
“Apart from toying with the serious issue of libel,
those newspapers lending themselves to be
cheaply used by miscreants are also doing gross
disservice to our collective good and the image of
the country,” he said.
Source: Punch