Special Report | 5 October 2015 16:49 CET

Jonathan Debunk Claims Of Spending N64bn on Independence, Fingers El-Rufai

By BENEDICTA BASSEY/NEWSTRACK

Former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Administration has denied reports attributed to the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that it spent over N64bn on Nigeria's Independence celebrations in five years.

It would be recall that Mallam El-Rufai has rated the expenditure on Jonathan's Government independence anniversary for the past five years as 2011 – N13bn; 2012 -N15bn; 2013 – N14bn; 2014 – N22bn; 2015 -N70m.

But the Former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan Administration has denied reports.

Operators of the former administration said in a statement signed on its behalf by the immediate past Minister /Deputy Chairman, National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, that the administration spent N332.6m on Independence celebrations from 2012 to 2014.

Sulaiman, who described the claim as a tissue of lies, challenged the Federal Government to make public the amount spent on the Independence Anniversary celebrations from 2012 to 2014.

He said the Federal Government under Jonathan spent N107.6m in 2012; N45m in 2013; and N180m in 2014 noting that the amount for 2010 and 2011 were not immediately available, they were in the same bracket with the other years.

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Suleiman said, “We were taken aback by the recent comment reportedly credited to His Excellency, Governor Nasir el-Rufai, where he claimed that the immediate past President, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan's administration spent N64bn to cover the country's Independence anniversary spending in five years.

“It is important to correct the misinformation so that the unsuspecting public would not be misled. For the record, a breakdown of our anniversary spending between 2012 and 2014 amounted to N332.6m. We challenge the Office of the Government of the Federation to publish these details for the consumption of the public.”

He urged government functionaries to desist from abusing their immunities and destroying history for their selfish interests.

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