8th October, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Revelations by the A publication by US based website, Richestlifestyle.com that Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan is the sixth richest African leader with a net worth of $100 million dollars has sparked controversy in the country with many accusing the magazine of grossly underestimating the worth of the Nigerian leader.
The website in its 2014 ranking of richest African leaders listed Jonathan as the sixth richest African leader.
Nigerians, however, disagreed with the magazine that President Jonathan is worth only $100 million (N16.4 billon), saying the president’s worth was underestimated.
The RichList, rated Jonathan who has spent only four years in office as the sixth richest African leader above Presidents Idriss Deby of Chad who has spent 23 years in office and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who has spent 34 years in power.
Chad’s leader Idriss Deby is estimated to be worth $50 million and Mugabe $10 million. The President of Equatorial Guinea, Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with a net worth of $600 million was listed as the third richest African leader while President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola who has spent 35 years in power was listed as the richest African leader worth more than $20 billion.
Reacting to the rankings by the website, many Nigerians described the sixth position given to President Jonathan as understatement. They believe that President Jonathan is worth more than $100 million judging by the numerous corruption scandals rocking his administration.
Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Joe Igbokwe accused the website of grossly underestimating Jonathan’s wealth, which he said was far more than $100 million.
“President Goodluck Jonathan is worth more than all the things considered. Richestlifestyle.com may not have done proper investigations on the subject matter given the level of impunity and the looting that have been going on in the past six years in Nigeria.
“There are billions of dollars hidden all over the world which may not be seen by the prying eyes of Forbes’ magazine investigators. President Jonathan is far richer than what the website thinks,” he stated.
Founder, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, Comrade Debo Adeniran said Forbes magazine underestimated Jonathan’s wealth because the president is far richer than the sixth position ascribed to him.
Adeniran explained that when the $10.4 billion oil money missing from the country’s federation account is put into focus, Richestlifestyle.com will realise that it made a terrible mistake in its ranking of the Nigerian leader.
According to him, President Jonathan has questions to answer on how he amassed the fortune ascribed to him when he had no business concerns before he became the president.
“We don’t think Jonathan will be able to put together $1 million let alone $100 million, when he does not have any visible company apart from the teaching he was into before he joined the political train. We hope that Forbes magazine will realise that they made a mistake in the ranking,” he added.
The anti-corruption crusader opined that with the huge money ascribed to Jonathan, it meant that the president was involved in shady deals for which his administration had been pilloried by many Nigerians.
Adeniran called for a probe of the president’s source of wealth.
Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, in his own comment on the ranking, said he was not sure of the wealth ascribed to the president because he doesn’t have the necessary documents to back up the claim, but noted that there is widespread corruption in the administration which is far more than $100 million.
.Update: the story has been re-edited, to show the authentic origin of the story. It was Richestlifestyle.com, not Forbes Magazine. The error is deeply regretted.