Ex-Jonathan aide berates former American ambassador John Campbell

A former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan has criticised a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria for ‘insulting’ Patience Jonathan.

Reno Omokri said it was not surprising to him that John Campbell would come after the wife of Mr. Jonathan, saying the retired U.S. diplomat had been working as a consultant for those close to the Buhari administration.

Mr. Omokri said Mr. Campbell was trying to divert attention from corruption allegations currently rocking the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in order to protect President Muhammadu Buhari’s public image.

“It is most unfortunate that the former US Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, who is now a consultant to certain Nigerians and a self-confessed admirer of President Muhammadu Buhari, would again insult Nigerians with his procured opinions meant to divert the public from the monumental $26 billion corruption scam recently uncovered in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of which President Muhammadu Buhari is the supervising minister,” Mr. Omokri said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES Sunday.

The former presidential social media assistant was responding to a blog post which Mr. Campbell published on the Website of Council of Foreign Relations, a New York-based think-tank where he now works.

In his article, Mr. Campbell criticised the Nigerian House of Representatives for issuing a warrant of arrest for the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

The EFCC is currently probing several millions of dollars linked to Mrs. Jonathan, some of which she has claimed to be hers.

Mr. Campbell said the House arrest warrant was orchestrated by most “Christian” Nigerian lawmakers and they were hounding Mr. Magu for daring to go after Mrs. Jonathan, from whom they had benefitted while her husband was in power.

Mr. Campbell also castigated Mrs. Jonathan as being “arrogant and flamboyant” and questioned how she was able to amass such stupendous wealth as a career civil servant.

In his Sunday response, Mr. Omokri said Mr. Campbell was ignorant of issues in Nigeria, adding that Mrs. Jonathan had been a businesswoman who was never confined to “the other room”, in an apparent mockery of Mr. Buhari who last October said his wife, Aisha, belongs to the kitchen and the other room.

Mr. Campbell did not respond to an email from PREMIUM TIMES seeking his request for comments. The email was sent Sunday evening but Mr. Campbell had not responded as at 3:00 p.m. Monday.

Mr.  Omokri said Mr. Magu is facing the consequences of his alleged disregard for rule of law in going after alleged corrupt elements.

“When the EFCC and its Chairman, who should implement the law, now flagrantly and blatantly disobey the law by refusing to honour a legal summons by a legal body, Christians should not be made a scapegoat as consultant John Campbell seeks to do,” Mr. Omokri said.

“The fact remains that the House of Representatives is a legally constituted legislative body with powers to summon and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a legally constituted law enforcement body that should be subject to the law,” he said, adding that PDP lawmakers being in the minority have little influence over decisions in the House.