Nigeria Content Online

The Presidency has refuted claims that President Goodluck
Jonathan appointed more aides than his predecessor, stating that he only hired
a few hands to fill vacant offices.

NEXT had exclusively reported that the President has an army of
133 aides who get paid about N780 million every year. NEXT also revealed that
Mr. Jonathan, after being sworn in, last year May, following the death of Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua, not only retained almost all the special aides appointed by his
late boss, but appointed 57 new ones. “In the nine months that he has been
president, Mr. Jonathan has appointed a chief of staff, a deputy chief of
staff, nine special advisers, 23 senior special assistants, 21 special
assistants and two personal assistants” the report read.

The presidential spokesman, Ima Niboro, who explained that the
list contained some misinterpretation, said contrary to what was reported, the
president has only appointed a few hands to fill in the spaces created either
by the exit of his predecessor or the personal exit of the aides.

He also said Mr. Jonathan created a few new portfolio which
includes; the office of the Special Adviser on Power, Special Adviser on Anti-
Terrorism and the office of the Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora
Affairs.

Old names

Mr. Niboro went on to explain that most of the names on the
list were old names and have been there since the administration of former
President Olusegun Obasanjo . “Majority of all the names on the list are old
names, most of them have been there since Obasanjo’s time, some of them were
with him as Vice President, and I and some other aides who were with him as
Vice President, vacated our offices from the VP’s side to join him, when he
became president”.

On why he did not respond to questions and calls from the
reporter about the issue, Mr. Niboro said the inquiries did not come through
the right channel.

“I ignored those inquiries because they did not come through the state house
correspondent,” he said. “Such questions should be channeled right, so that I
can keep track of who I am talking to”.