I met officials of oil companies but didn’t receive kickback, says Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has responded to allegations of receiving kickbacks in the $1.3 billion OPL 245 oil block deal involving oil giants ENI and Royal Dutch Shell.

Some Italian investigators had indicted Jonathan, alleging that Claudio Descalzi, ENI chief executive and his predecessor Paolo Scaroni, met with the former president to thrash out the deal “in person”.

But Jonathan said he met with executives of all the oil majors operating in Nigeria in his capacity as the number one citizen of the country, and no illegality was involved.

The prosecutors said ENI and Shell executives worked with Dan Etete, the oil minister during the military administration of Sani Abacha.

“Our attention has been drawn to news reports published mostly by online media which suggested through innuendo, rather than factual evidence, that former President Goodluck Jonathan received kickbacks in the $1.3bn OPL 245 oil block deal involving oil giants ENI and Royal Dutch Shell,” read a statement issued on Jonathan’s behalf by Ikechukwu Eze, his media aide.

“As President of Nigeria, there is no doubt that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan met with executives of all the oil majors operating in Nigeria and urged them to, amongst other things, support the growth of the Nigerian oil industry by ramping up their investments and comply with the Local Content Act that he promoted and signed into law.

“We however wish to state, for emphasis, that at no time did the former President hold private meetings with representatives of ENI to discuss pecuniary issues. All the meetings and discussions former President Jonathan had with ENI, other IOCs and some indigenous operators were conducted officially, and in the presence of relevant Nigerian Government officials and were done in the best interest of the country.

“With regards to the publication, we wish to make it clear that former President Jonathan was not accused, indicted or charged for corruptly collecting any monies as kickbacks or bribes from ENI by the Italian authorities or any other law enforcement body the world over.

“In the first place, we have to categorically state that the negotiations and transactions for the oil block deal predate the Presidency of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan which began on 6th May 2010 and ended on 29th May 2015.”

Abubakar Aliyu, who was described as an “agent” of Jonathan, was said to have withdrawn $54 million out of $801.5 million allegedly transferred to Malabu’s accounts.

But Jonathan denied the allegation, saying the records of the transactions in Malabu deals are in the office of the attorney-general of the federation.

“It may interest those promoting this false narrative to know that all the documents relating to the transactions, issues and decisions of the Federal Government on the Malabu issue, during the Jonathan administration, are in the office of the attorney general of the federation/minister of Justice,” the statement read.

“We make bold to point out that the former President never sent any Abubakar Aliyu, as the innuendoes in the false report suggest, to ENI, the IOCs or any indigenous operator to seek favour or collect any gratification on his behalf.

“We will like to point out for the umpteenth time that whether in office or out of office, former President Jonathan does not own any bank account, aircraft or real estate outside Nigeria. Anyone with contrary information is challenged to publicly publish same.

“As the President who signed the Freedom of Information Act into law, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan lifted the veil on governance and encouraged transparency knowing that evil breeds in secrecy. It is the opinion of the former President that journalists and media houses should take advantage of this law in their investigative journalism, rather than rely on hearsay.”