I’ve never seen $13.5m in my life, says Patience Jonathan

Posted by admin First Ladies, Latest Politics, Patience Jonathan Friday, September 16th, 2011

First lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has denied the report that he was investigated for being in possession of $13.5 million in 2006 saying she had never seen such amount in her life.

Mrs. Jonathan who was reacting to a report by online whistle blower that the said amount was confiscated from her said $13.5 million was way too much for her to carry. She spoke to members of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) at the Presidential Villa.

“How can they say Mrs. Jonathan is caught with that kind of money? Can a human being carry that kind of money in a bag? That money is too much o. Even if I escaped the security in Nigeria, I could not have escaped the security people in the country they said I was carrying that kind of big money to,” the first lady said.

She said the story was planted to discredit her husband’s first 100 days in office as elected president and was aimed at blackmailing her family because there was no iota of truth in the report.

Mrs. Jonathan said she had never stolen throughout her time as wife of an elected public officer: “I was wife of deputy governor; I never stole. I was wife of governor; I never stole. I was wife of the vice-president; I never stole; and now I’m the wife of the president; I have not stolen.”
The first lady who was visibly emotional about the allegation said she had been disturbed by the baseless rumour and accused those who were bent on rubbishing her husband’s administration of orchestrating the story.

“Since my life I have never, never, never been invited by the EFCC. If ever I was invited, I won’t shy away; I will go there and report myself. But I have never been invited by EFCC.
“I have discovered that anytime my husband is contesting for an election, people will want to pull him down. Especially those people who don’t want Nigeria to move forward. They will always come out with false story because they want to sell their story, they go ahead and publish their falsehood without making efforts to get facts.

“Incidentally, Nuhu Ribadu was chairman of the EFCC when they said I stole that kind of big amount of money and he was also a presidential aspirant in the past elections. When this matter came to him, he made it clear to whoever wanted to listen that he never invited Mrs. Jonathan to the EFCC over any kind of crime but Nigerians have refused to hear and believe him.

“Today, Mrs. Farida is there as the chairman of the EFCC. If my file was with the commission, she would have seen it to do a follow up on that. But she has not done so because there is nothing criminal about me in the commission neither is there anything against my husband.

“Where is the customs officer that arrested me? The money is too big for one person to carry. When I was wife of deputy governor, there was no allocation to my office. I was wife of the governor, there was no allocation, I was wife to the vice president, there was no allocation to my office and now I am the wife of the president and still there is no allocation to my office.

“I work with my NGO and I organise launchings to raise money. I plead with good Samaritans to donate to my NGO and they do that with all their heart because they are happy with what I am doing with the money they give me which I am using to better the lives of the poor in the society.”

-Sunwp_posts