US website removes Jonathan from Africa’s richest list

The US-based website, Richest Lifestyle,which listed President Goodluck Jonathan as Africa’s sixth richest president has retracted the publication.

Richest Lifestyle had ranked Jonathan alongside King Mswati III of Swaziland, stating that both African leaders were worth $100m (N16.5 bn) in the publication titled “Africa’s Richest Presidents 2014.”

Following the publication, the President had threatened to institute a legal action against the publishers of the online magazine, stating that the ranking lacked “factual basis.”

“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.

“As is well known, President Jonathan has never been a businessman or entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant. 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,” the Presidential Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, had said in a statement on Wednesday.

But the global magazine which claims to showcase “rich, famous and fabulous people around the globe” said on Thursday that it based its evaluation of Jonathan’s worth on information and statistics it gleaned from a sister global celebrity magazine, CelebrityNetWorth.com.