Okorocha is a big liar, says ex-President

The former president said he never asked for Okorocha's help to win the 2015 presidential election.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has dismissed the recent statement by Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, that he tried to win him over ahead of the 2015 presidential election with huge sums of money.

The governor had said that the former president had tried to lure him to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of his reelection bid that he eventually lost to President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to a statement signed by the former president's Media Adviser, Ikechukwu  Eze, he never had any conversation with Okorocha about dumping the All Progressives Congress (APC) to help him in his reelection bid.


The president slammed Okorocha's claims, saying he didn't need to convince him to switch allegiances as he didn't have any trouble winning in the South East region which was his stronghold.
The statement read, "Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to Governor Okorocha, and published by a national newspaper on September 27, 2017, where he was quoted to have said that former President Jonathan offered him an influential ministry and huge sums of money to dump his party ahead of the 2015 elections, which he rejected.
"We offer to quickly dismiss these claims as lies, because we are clear in our minds that such conversation never happened.
"We are wondering whether this truly came from the governor because we are sure that even Okorocha himself did not believe that anybody would accept these claims.
"In the first place, it sounded irrational and absurd. Besides, it was obvious to all and sundry that the South East, being Dr. Jonathan's political stronghold, the ex-President did not need Okorocha to win in the zone.
"However, to set the records straight, we make bold to say that former President Jonathan never made any contact with Okorocha, ahead of the 2015 elections.
"The claim of an offer of 'an influential ministry' is also quite surprising because the former President was not in the habit of making frivolous promises, especially pertaining to government positions and offices.
"All those who had either worked closely with him in any capacity, or served in Dr. Jonathan's administration can bear testimony to the fact that idle talk is not his style.
"Since we know that the only proof the purveyors of this bribery allegation could offer is to probably claim that the transaction happened in a dream, we can only offer the governor sincere advice, to avoid rumors, twaddle and get down to the business of result-oriented governance."
The former president also advised the Imo state governor to channel his energy towards creating growth and development opportunities in his state rather than resorting to propaganda.


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