Former Career Diplomat and retired Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Godknows Boladei Igali, has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan, is one of the poorest former Nigerian leaders, even in Africa, in recent years.
Ambassador Igali also said that the immediate past Nigerian President was currently struggling to settle some of his 2015 election liabilities.
Dr. Igali, made this startling revelation in an interactive session with some journalists, over the weekend, in Abuja.
He said that despite the allegations of corruption leveled against some of the officials and associates of Jonathan during his tenure as Nigeria’s president, he left his exalted position as a fulfilled man but insolvent, as compared to most of his retired predecessors.
According to him, even with the corruption accusations against his regime, none of the corruption cases has so far been linked directly to the Jonathan.
In his words, “Am glad that some of you Journalists are privileged to know where he (Jonathan) lives and where he has his private offices in this country. I do not think president Jonathan can be considered a very rich man.
“You must realize that none of those corruption allegations has been personally linked to him. Jonathan is not a rich man, take it from me. He may be comfortable but not rich. But l know that his pension as a former president is enough to take care of him.”
Igali, had served as Permanent Secretary in both Ministries of Power and Water Resources. He described the ex-president as a “modest” man whose lifestyle and background were humble.
He said, “Indeed Jonathan is still struggling to pay some election liabilities from 2015 till today. Despite all the stories of flying billions, Jonathan borrowed money to prosecute some aspects of his election and he is struggling in different ways to meet up.
There’s a lot of untruths that is being said about him, but l believe history will be very fair to him. He is a very simple man. His background and lifestyle are very simple. He is not jingoistic.
“Thank God some of you guys know where he has an office and where he lives in Maitama. Which former president of Nigeria lives in that kind of place? President Jonathan’s parlour in his Maitama house can not accommodate more than ten persons.
“Look at his dinning table, it is like any other house in Maitama. The only way you will know that a former president of this country is living there is the presence of security men and which he is entitled to as a former president.”
The former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sweden, Finland, Venezuela and Cameroon at different times, however expressed regrets over what he described as the way Jonathan’s regime was being discredited as if nothing good in terms of positive achievements for the country were accomplished by him.
