Malabu oil deal: Jonathan denies collecting $200m bribe

Erwhile President, Goodluck Jonathan, has dismissed claim that he received the sum of $200m as kickback from the Malabu oil deal.

The former President made the denial while reacting to report by an American news website, Buzzfeed, allegeding that he got $200m from the sale of the controversial OPL 245 oil block.

In a statement by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan stressed that the Malabu oil deal was struck before his administration.

He maintained that the report can only be true if he had a time machine, the former

The former President described the report “fake news” which was being sponsored by those out to truncate his rising international profile.

The statement reads, “The allegations that former President Goodluck Jonathan received $200 million as proceeds from the Malabu Oil deal which were published on a gossip news site, Buzzfeed, and republished by a few other newspapers, is false in its entirety, and is one more in the series of fake news sponsored by those threatened by Dr. Jonathan’s continuously rising profile in the international community.

“Common sense should have shown the purveyors of this slander that the Malabu oil deal far predated the Jonathan regime and it would only make sense for him to be bribed if he had a time machine to go back in time to when the deal was struck.

“The report relied on hearsay evidence from a man of questionable character who provided no substance to back up his false claim.

“The man quoted by the report said he ‘assumed’ that Dr. Jonathan would be bribed. Since when has the assumption of a crook been enough to smear the reputation of a patriot and international statesman like Dr. Goodluck Jonathan?

The former President also dismissed claim by the report that he tutored the children of former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete.