VICE President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, threatened to resign from office if his Bayelsa State people so demand on the grounds that he left huge debts behind as governor of the state. He also defended his resolve not to make the declaration of his assets public as done by his boss, President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, adding that, unknown to many Nigerians, he had declared his assets five times to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
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“If the state says I leave, I will leave the vice presidency. If it will help the state, I will do it. I will not be buried in Aso Rock. If the step would help us develop, I would be happyâ€, Jonathan said in reaction to the media attacks on his person. The vice president was speaking during an interactive session with journalists at the Conference Hall of Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa.
Defending his inability to state how much assets and liabilities he left behind given the circumstances under which he was shuttling between Yenagoa and Abuja towards the twilight of his administration, the former Bayelsa State governor said the reports on the amount of debt his administration left behind was done out of ignorance.
He, however, admitted that he left behind some liabilities which he described as normal in governance saying, “If we had met before handover, I would have told the accountant general of the state to prepare a report but now I can not do that because there is a sitting governor even though we left behind some liabilities.â€
According to him, “Some of the claims in the media was that I left a huge debt behind but these were written out of ignorance. I hear N42billion and N62billion. I was governor for 16 months and I don’t want to mention the amount. Whether anybody agrees or not the records are there. In Bayelsa State, it is late for me to mention what I left. It is even difficult to know whether a state is distressed because it would have been difficult to pay salaries but we did. The present governor is doing well and with the way he is going, he would do better.â€
Jonathan also said he could declare how much assets and liabilities he left behind in the state as he is no longer the state governor. The vice president explained that there are so much on-going projects that would make it difficult to categorically state the exact amount the state has in its coffers at any given time.
He cited some states where the former governors said they left so much money in their treasuries only for their successors to counter the claims and lamented what he described as the pull-down syndrome prevalent in the predominantly riverine Bayelsa State. The vice president who urged the people to shun this negative act if Bayelsa must move forward added that he was not afraid of petitions from any quarters. According to him, many petitions had already been written against him with a view to tarnishing his reputation.
Jonathan said his visit was also to enable him interact with the leadership of the people in the state and prevent the kind of dichotomy that exists in some states where the leadership of the people in Abuja is at war with that at home. He added that such unhealthy development could jeopardize the developmental aspirations of the people.
Speaking on why he was not disposed to declaring his assets publicly, he stated that he did not see any big deal in it as there is no provision of the law that makes it mandatory. According to him, he was satisfied that he had met relevant provisions of the law having declared his assets to the relevant agency of government about five times.
His words: “When I assumed office as deputy governor in 1999, I declared my assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau which is the relevant agency vested with the responsibility of receiving it. I did same thing in 2003 when I was leaving the office only to do it on my returning for second term as deputy governor. I also declared
my assets when I became governor and when I was leaving. I have done it also on assuming office as vice president. I have gone through relevant laws and did not come across it anywhere that I should declare my assets publicly. It is not mandatory.
That means it is a matter of choice but I don’t see any big deal about itâ€. Yar’Adua had moments after assuming office publicly declared his assets which he put at about N850 million. Also speaking at the occasion, Governor Timipre Sylva disclosed that the Jonathan administration left over N20 billion in investments through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) for his government.
The governor, who like Jonathan, failed to state exactly how much in cash or debt the previous administration left behind, said government is a continuum and as such whatever assets and liability left by the previous government is to be inherited by the incoming one. Sylva said all the Jonathan administration left in the state coffer was N20billion worth in ‘investment portfolio.’
source: http://odili.net/news/source/2007/jul/29/399.html
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