Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has denied claims by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State that his administration spent N64 billion to organize Nigeria’s independence celebrations for three years.

According to the governor, Jonathan spent N13 billion in 2011, N15 billion in 2012 and N14 billion in 2013 and N22 billion in 2011, bringing the total to N64 billion.

However, Jonathan denied the claim, saying only N332.6 million was spent during the three-year period and chided el-Rufai for deliberately lying to confuse the public and give his administration a bad name.

Jonathan, who responded to the allegation yesterday, described the huge figure as figment of el-Rufai’s imagination and a fabricated lie by a favour-seeker.

In a statement in Abuja, through his former Minister of National Planning, Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, Jonathan said: “For the record, a breakdown of our anniversary spending between 2012 to 2014 amounted to N332.6 million.

“We challenge the Office of the Government of the Federation to publish these details for the consumption of the public.

“A breakdown of our spending for this event between 2012 and 2104 goes thus: 2012, N107.6 million; 2013, N45 million and 2014, 180 million. So, the question here is where did the billions, as claimed by el-Rufai, emanate from?”

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