Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Babafemi Hamzat as an attention seeker and wannabe politician.
Jonathan’s response came after Hamzat accused the ex-president of trying to bribe him with $5 million in the build-up to the 2015 general election.
Hamzat, who reportedly made the allegation at the launch of the Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat Advocates held at Fidimaye Hall, Oko-Oba, Abule-Egba, Lagos on Friday, said he turned down Jonathan’s offer.
However, the ex-president has hit back in a statement signed by his media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze.
Jonathan described the allegation as “frivolous claim” and “blatant lie” concocted by Hamzat to gain politicial relevance.
“Our attention has been drawn to a claim by the running mate of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr Obafemi Hamzat, that he rejected a $5m bribe from former President Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 elections.
“There is no better way to respond to this frivolous claim than to quickly dismiss it as a blatant lie apparently concocted by a wannabe politician desperate for votes in a campaign season. In the first place, this character is an obscure individual who in 2015 had neither a recognisable name nor political clout,” the statement read in part.
Jonathan said he never met “this man who was obviously not relevant in the national politics of 2015, let alone seek to offer him bribe.
“Assuming anybody had $5m to spend to better his political fortune, as Mr Hamzat claimed, why seek to waste it on a man who was just a commissioner prior to 2015, and whose best outing so far is to function as a hand-picked running mate to a governorship candidate in the forthcoming 2019 elections?
“His is obviously the antics of a desperate and dishonest politician seeking to apply subterfuge and outright lies, believing that such could boost his lowly image, win him public sympathy and, possibly, votes.”