Africa’s Richest Presidents: Jonathan Demands Retraction, Public Apology Over ‘Offensive’ Report

A furious President Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to his inclusion in the list of richest African Presidents, saying the publication was baseless and libelous and has demanded a retraction and apology from publishers of the article – RichestLifestyle.com and all those who have published the said article.

The social media was awash with a report by the U.S based website, which listed the Nigerian President, whose net worth has remained an officially kept secret, as the sixth richest African President, with an estimated value of $100 million.

‎Reacting to the said publication, the Special Adviser on Media & Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement on Wednesday, said: "We have noted with consternation the listing of President  Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by a website – RichestLifestyle.com – as the sixth richest African President with an estimated net worth of $100 Million U.S. Dollars.

"The Presidency condemns the totally unwarranted inclusion of President Jonathan in the publication titled "Africa's Richest Presidents 2014" as another attempt to unjustifiably portray the President as a corrupt leader and incite public disaffection against him.

"We categorically assert that there is no factual basis for ranking President Jonathan as the sixth richest African Head of State with a net worth of about $100 Million U.S. Dollars.

"As it is well known, President Jonathan has never been a businessman or entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant.

"The President has held public office since 1999 and has regularly declared his assets as required by Nigerian laws. He has had no personal income since 1999 other than his official remuneration as deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting president and president which are matters of public record.

"There has been no significant variation in the totality of his personal assets as contained in his last declaration to the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau in 2011 which, as can be verified, was a very, very far cry from the $100 million figure now being bandied about by Richest Lifestyle.com and other irresponsible, copy-cat publications.

"The clear and unacceptable imputation of the claim that President Jonathan is now worth about $100 Million is that the President has corruptly enriched himself while in office which is certainly not the case.

"We therefore demand a retraction and an unreserved apology from Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who have reproduced the offensive article.

"Otherwise, they should be prepared to substantiate their libelous claims against the President in courts of law within and outside Nigeria", the statement said.

According to Richest Lifestyle.com, the first on its list of 9 Richest African Presidents and Kings in 2014 is Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola with net worth of $20 billion, followed by King Mohammed VI of Morocco – net worth: $2.5 billion. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea is third with about $600 million followed by Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, who is said to be worth $500 million. Cameroon's Paul Biya is placed fifth on the list with net worth of  $200 million followed by  King Mswati III of Swaziland and President Goodluck Jonathan, who both tied at sixth place with an estimated net worth of $100 million each. Idriss Deby of Chad was listed as eighth richest with $50 million while Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, with an estimated net worth of $10 Million, was placed 9^th on the list.‎