Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan
Nigeria: Will Jonathan Appear in Court if Paid $2.7m?
Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former president has asked for $2.7 million before he appears in court to testify in a corruption case involving his party man.
His lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria today, that Jonathan needed the whooping cash to cover costs to enable him to attend the case in Court.
Will Jonathan, former president of Nigeria appear in court to testify against or in favour of his party man if he is offered that sum which is equivalent to N1 billion?
Jonathan seems not to be taken seriously about this. Thought provoking questions: Is Jonathan broke? Should he appear himself in the court to testify? Or if he should, does he need $2.7 million to do that? Is Jonathan avoiding attending the court, not expecting anyone to pay him such money?
Jonathan’s party man, former publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Olisa Metuh is accused of fraudulently receiving 400 million naira ($1.1 million, 945,000 euros) from Jonathan’s former national security advisor, Sambo Dasuki.
The money was allegedly diverted from funds meant to procure weapons and equipment for the fight against Boko Haram and was used to fund Jonathan’s failed re-election bid in 2015.
Both Metuh and Dasuki, who is being tried separately, have said Jonathan was aware of the payments.
Lawyers for Metuh have summonsed both Jonathan and Dasuki to give evidence. But both failed to appear in court last week.
Ozekhome on Tuesday said Jonathan was “not the proper person to testify in these proceedings at all”.
But he said if the judge maintained he should testify, the court “should order Olisa Metuh to deposit the sum of one billion naira” to cover Jonathan’s travel costs.
The money would also cover “logistics and the security personnel that will have to accompany him” from his home in Otuoke, in southern Nigeria, to the capital, added Ozekhome.
“Otuoke, in oil-rich Bayelsa state, is some 680 kilometres (422 miles) by road from Abuja, where Jonathan is known to own property”, reports The Guardian.