First Lady denies involvement in sale of Enugu Distribution Company

First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has denied any interest in the sale of Enugu Distribution Company.

A statement issued on Sunday night by Mrs. Ayo Adesugba, her Director of Information, said there was no truth in the online article published on Sahara Reporters, titled “Nigeria’s First Lady, Vice President behind the Enugu Disco Sale Fiasco.”

“Normally, the hearsay and conjectures in the article should have been ignored due to the fact that it is speculative journalism at its worst, she said.

“Additionally, the article as it pertains to the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is devoid of any concrete evidence or supporting documents. However, since the First Lady’s name has been mentioned in the article we are duty bound to respond so that the public will not be unwittingly misled.”

According to the report “A major source in the Presidency disclosed that Mrs. Jonathan is the unseen hand behind the constant bending of rules for Interstate by both the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the National Council on Privatization (NCP).”

It further states that, “The reason for the First Lady’s meddling is that Emeka Offor, leader of the Interstate consortium, has convinced her that he would protect her secret business interest in the consortium.”

Continuing, “Mr. Offor confided in associates early this week that he had advised Mrs. Jonathan, who hails from Rivers State as Peterside, to put pressure on the NCP technical committee chairman to “take it easy because this is Nigeria, and not America or London.”

But the statement maintained there is no veracity whatsoever in the report.

“The First Lady is not interested and has no link whatsoever to the sale, or bending of rules, if any, for the sale of any public enterprise. The article is not only speculative and uncharitable but also extremely unfair and provocative.

Mrs. Jonathan’s aide said the report was against the basic ethics of journalism, having failed to be fair, wondering why nobody from the news site requested the First Lady’s own side of the rumored story.

“It is our hope that in future, Sahara Reporters will present concrete facts to buttress whatever claims it has, so that we can examine facts and not respond to hearsay or rumour from unidentified sources.

Mrs. Adesugba said her boss’s attention is firmly focused on her philanthropic roles through her NGOs and on promoting peace in her capacity as the President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission.

“Dame Patience is also working with commitment to ensure greater online security for Nigerian children in her capacity as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Child Online Protection Champion.

“Unfounded and speculative reports such as the one carried by Sahara Reporters are unnecessary distractions which we hope all well-meaning Nigerians should ignore,” concluded the statement.

Source: Dailypost