Jonathan Threatens Legal Action Over Report On Electoral Fraud

Posted by admin Latest Politics Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

• Oshiomhole denies saying Jonathan voted 4 times in 2007
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday threatened to institute legal action regarding media report that he voted four times as Vice President in the April 2007 general elections, if the story was not retracted and an unreserved apology tendered to him by the media organisation.Jonathan’s position followed a statement by Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole dispelling the said report alleging that he told some United States diplomats in December 2008 that President Jonathan voted four times in the said poll.

According to the governor, “It is obvious that there was a clear mix-up in the story as the person in reference was the former military vice-president, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, whose name was tendered in court as having voted four times during the epic case to regain the mandate popularly given to Oshiomhole by the Edo people and not President Goodluck Jonathan”.

Accordingly, the President said it became evident that the media organisation and its publishers were “deliberately waging a malicious campaign of falsehood and calumny aimed at impugning” his integrity.

The said report published yesterday in a national daily newspaper (not LEADERSHIP) had claimed that the paper relied on American diplomatic cables released by the whistleblower site, WikiLeaks for the story that President Jonathan voted several times in the 2007 general elections, an allegation which it said was made by Oshiomole.

“According to Mr. Oshiomole, as reported in the US diplomatic cables, the court ruling voiding the supposed election of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Edo governor and declaring Mr. Oshiomole the legitimate winner would not have been possible without documentary evidence that Mr. Jonathan, among others, personally rigged the election”, the newspaper report stated.

But in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ima Niboro, Jonathan said he had come to the conclusion that the report was a campaign of calumny following the series of defamatory and always false reports published against him “such as the bogus claim that he has engaged over 130 personal aides since assuming office and the totally untrue report that the President’s children were attending school when other Nigerian children were asked to stay at home for the recent voters’ registration exercise.

“How any editor with the least modicum of intelligence and who is not bent on carrying out a nefarious agenda could have given any credence to such a report and go as far as plastering it all over the front-page of his newspaper totally beats our imagination”, he added.

The statement made available to LEADERSHIP last night reads: “It is worthy of note that Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State to whom the allegation was attributed has already denied ever making such a ludicrous claim.In his largeness of heart and magnanimity, President Jonathan ignored all previous attacks on his person and family, but the newspaper has gone too far this time.

“President Jonathan, therefore demands a full retraction of the offensive allegation of electoral malpractice against president Jonathan and an unreserved apology to the president published by the newspaper with the same prominence as today’s false report.

“If this is not done in short order, we will pursue every legal means available to seek redress for the president and the presidency. This nonsense must stop!”

Meanwhile, Oshiomole who contended that there was a mix up in the story where Jonathan was mistaken for former Military Vice President, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, said, “Why we still ponder over the import of the strange linkage to the President, we are particularly moved not to suspect that the newspaper is opening its flanks to the whims of mischief makers or some unscrupulous elements who deliberately wish to drive a wedge between Jonathan and Oshiomhole”.

Oshiomole’s rebuttal of the said report is contained in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media Affairs, Mr. Tony Iyare .

The statement made available to LEADERSHIP on Sunday reads: “We are completely at a loss how the newspaper came to that conclusion which is attributed to the highly controversial whistleblower site, Wikileaks and said to have been made exclusively to it. We wish to say that at no time did the governor ever made such a weighty allegation against President Goodluck Jonathan.

“In addition, what was tendered in court was the electoral register bearing the names of voters in Edo State which had nothing to do with Jonathan who voted in Bayelsa.

“We wish to place on record that there was no where either in the tendered court documents or the brief with the US diplomats where President Jonathan’s name featured as having voted four times. We want to plead that the media should endeavour to verify its facts painstakingly before going to press in order to avoid causing unnecessary disaffection”.

Meanwhile, Jonathan launched an updated campaign website at goodluck.org.ng that calls on all Nigerians to sign up and join the cause of transforming our country and building one Nigeria. The website gives power to ordinary Nigerians, enabling them to create and sign-up for events, spread the word to family and friends, and provide input and ideas on issues like building lasting peace in the Niger Delta, reforming and expanding Nigeria’s power sector, investing in Nigerian education and agriculture, and creating sustainable new industries, jobs and national security.wp_posts