By Agency Reporter
Published: Monday, 30 Jul 2007

Jonathan, at an interactive session with newsmen in Yenagoa on Saturday, also debunked rumours that he lost thousands of foreign currencies to the incident.

He said, “I kept my certificates here (Yenagoa) until after the Independent National Electoral Commission’s screening of the candidates for the April 21 elections.

“When I wanted to travel to the United States, I said that they should send my certificates to my house in Kpansia.

“But the young person I gave the directive misunderstood me. So, he took the certificates to my village house.

“Of course, the keys used to stay with the housekeeper. So, I don‘t think that I will get that kind of money (foreign currencies) to go and dump there (Otuoke) and then leave the house open.”

Jonathan said that the whole building would have been brought down if not for sympathisers who used pumping machines with long hoses to put out the inferno.

He said, “Everything in my bedroom was burnt but people say that there was money, and that only the money did not burn. I don‘t know whether there was a safe in that house.

The gunmen invaded the home of the vice-president shortly after his election and burnt a part of the building.

A security post in the house was also burnt and a Honda Accord in the premises vandalised.

The incident forced the VP’s mother to flee to a neighbouring community on a speed boat.