I had nothing to do with 2015 budget, says Jonathan on probe of Aso Villa clinic

Former President Goodluck Jonathan says he knows nothing about how the budget allocated to the state house medical centre in 2015 was spent.

Speaking on the committee set up by the house of representatives to look into the allocations of the clinic, Jonathan said as of the time he handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari, the budget had not been implemented.

He said his administration would not be included in the probe.

“The house of representatives resolved Thursday 12 October, 2015, to probe 2015-2017 allocations to Aso Rock Clinic and some media reports are needlessly dragging the name of former President Goodluck Jonathan into it,” Jonathan said in a statement issued on his behalf by Ikechukwu Eze, his spokesman.

“We had thought that the media should be the first to remind Nigerians that since Jonathan left office on May 29, 2015, he had absolutely nothing to do with the implementation of the budget for that year.

“For emphasis, the 2015 appropriation bill which was passed by the parliament in April was signed into law in May, 2015.

“And since the procurement process, based on the new procurement law, takes at least three months to complete, there was no way Jonathan would have had anything to do with the budget implementation for 2015, before vacating Aso Rock Villa on May 29, 2015.”

Eze said going by the way some people make insinuations on issues that bordered on the development in country, it would appear as if Jonathan had been in office since independence and probably still ruling.

“We expect media houses to always do proper investigations to avoid the convenient choice of always using Jonathan as the scapegoat for the misdeeds of others.”