Mrs. Patience Jonathan, the wife of President Goodluck
Jonathan, has responded to media report that she was paid N3billion by
the Niger Delta Development Commission to facilitate the agency’s 2015
Budget.
The report had claimed that apart from the sum, Mrs. Jonathan collaborated with a former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, in a number of schemes that enabled them loot the resources of the NDDC.
But a statement released today, February 2, 2015, by Mrs Jonathan’s media assistant, Ayo Adewuyi, described the report as hoax.
It disclosed that the report was aimed at misleading unsuspecting
members of the public and recruit them into their hate campaign against
Mrs. Jonathan.
According to Adewuyi, the aim of those behind the report was to portray the first lady as an overbearing and intrusive woman against her well known passion for peace and advancement of the cause of women and children in Nigeria.
“Nigerians are very conversant with the workings of the National Assembly regarding passage of Budgets.
“Parliamentary process requires that the Appropriation Bill goes through first reading, second reading and third reading and subsequent harmonisation by the two chambers.
“One then wonders at which level of this process the First Lady influenced the passage of NDDC Budget that warranted her being paid N3billion for the alleged ‘Consultancy.’
“Therefore, it will be impossible for one single person to influence its passage or is the author trying to indict our lawmakers?
“The report is therefore, to say the least, dubious, diversionary, unfair, unkind, and totally unacceptable. Dame Patience Jonathan did no such thing,” the statement read.
The report had claimed that apart from the sum, Mrs. Jonathan collaborated with a former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, in a number of schemes that enabled them loot the resources of the NDDC.
But a statement released today, February 2, 2015, by Mrs Jonathan’s media assistant, Ayo Adewuyi, described the report as hoax.
Patience Jonathan
According to Adewuyi, the aim of those behind the report was to portray the first lady as an overbearing and intrusive woman against her well known passion for peace and advancement of the cause of women and children in Nigeria.
“Nigerians are very conversant with the workings of the National Assembly regarding passage of Budgets.
“Parliamentary process requires that the Appropriation Bill goes through first reading, second reading and third reading and subsequent harmonisation by the two chambers.
“One then wonders at which level of this process the First Lady influenced the passage of NDDC Budget that warranted her being paid N3billion for the alleged ‘Consultancy.’
“Therefore, it will be impossible for one single person to influence its passage or is the author trying to indict our lawmakers?
“The report is therefore, to say the least, dubious, diversionary, unfair, unkind, and totally unacceptable. Dame Patience Jonathan did no such thing,” the statement read.
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