Threatens court action against Richest ifestyle.com, others
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday expressed concern over his inclusion in the list of richest presidents by a website – RichestLifestyle.com – as the sixth richest African president with an estimated net worth of 100 million USA dollars, saying it was baseless and libelous.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, Jonathan said the publication, entitled “Africa’s Richest Presidents 2014,” was another attempt to unjustifiably portray him as a corrupt leader and incite public disaffection against him.
He said there was no factual basis for ranking him as the sixth richest African Head of State with a net worth of about $100 million.
The president said he has never been a businessman or entrepreneur, “but a life-long public servant,” and had no personal income since 1999 other than his official remuneration as deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting president and president which are matters of public record.
He said there has been no significant variation in the totality of his personal assets as contained in his last declaration to the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau in 2011 which “was a very, very far cry from the $100 million figure now being bandied about by Richest Lifestyle.com and other irresponsible, copy-cat publications.”
Jonathan said the imputation of the claim that he is now worth about $100 million is that he has corruptly enriched himself while in office which is not the case.
He, therefore, demanded an immediate retraction and unreserved apology from Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who have reproduced the offensive article, “otherwise, they should be prepared to substantiate their libelous claims against the President in courts of law within and outside Nigeria.”
