Jonathan defends his record on curbing corruption

Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan has defended his government’s record on fighting corruption and denied his successor’s assertion that the country’s Treasury was left empty when he handed over power last year.

Jonathan, 58, was succeeded in May 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari, who accused the previous administration of looting billions of dollars and leaving the country’s finances “virtually empty.”

“There’s no way he would have inherited an empty treasury,” Jonathan said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg Television in London. “It’s not possible.”

Speaking in the same programme, the former president said that Nigeria may revisit a law that banned same-sex marriages.

“When it comes to equality, we must all have the same rights as Nigerian citizens,” Jonathan in 2014 signed a law criminalizing same-sex marriages, gay groups and public displays of affection by homosexuals. The decision triggered condemnation by religious leaders, human rights groups and Western governments.

“In the light of deepening debates for all Nigerians and other citizens of the world to be treated equally and without discrimination, and with the clear knowledge that the issue of sexual orientation is still evolving, the nation may at the appropriate time revisit the law,” Jonathan said.