Okonjo-Iweala dismisses report in which she pledged her support for Buhari as a total forgery

FORMER finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has dismissed a well-circulated report in which she was quoted as having declared her support for President Muhammadu Buhari as a forgery put together by desperate people.

Last week, a news report was trending on social media in which Dr Okonjo-Iweala praised President Buhari and said those opposed to his presidency were people who could no longer benefit from the public purse due to the government's clampdown on corruption. Attributing the comments to Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the report said she made them at a recent United Nations summit in Mauritania.

It alleged that the former finance minister was also quoted to have said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was planning to return to power to hold the nation to ransom once again. She was also quoted to have said that Nigeria ex-generals were murmuring because they know President Buhari would not renew their oil blocs

According to the long worded report, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was also said to have stated that socio-cultural groups were angry because they were not given Ghana Must Go bags to support the president. On the newspaper page, she was also quoted to have attacked traditional monarchs, corrupt religious leaders, legislators and civil servants.

However, sharing a newspaper page on her Twitter page, Dr Okonjo-Iweala warned that more of such news may still be circulated but should be considered fake. She denied making the statements that have been widely attributed to her.

She tweeted: “This is false and in line with other false messages, including the audio that was released previously. Please note that similar mischievous messages may circulate but it is the work of desperate people.”