How much of Jonathan’s largesse was stolen?

I perceived former president Goodluck Jonathan as a naïve and unassuming gentleman. I saw him as a man not suited for the high office of the Nigerian president at the time he mounted the saddle. To me, he looked more like one who could easily be manipulated or taken advantage of by some smart alecs . I had the opportunity of expressing this reservation during an encounter with one of  his  media aides while he was still in the saddle and a colleague asked same question from another aide at another forum I attended. Coincidentally, both gentlemen dismissed our assessment of the president as faulty. They posited that Jonathan might look weak, but he had a mind of his own. They painted the picture of a man who is strong-willed, who would listen to all opinions, make up his mind and take action not minding whose ox is gored. They contended that Jonathan could not be manipulated by anyone.
The massive misappropriation of public funds still being unraveled a year and half after his departure from office has got my mind swirling whether to believe that Jonathan was indeed a gentleman whose naivety was fully exploited by people he surrounded himself with or the other suggestion that since he could not be manipulated, he actually took all the decisions approving the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to all manner of people through the National Security Adviser’s (NSA) office.
Under Jonathan, the NSA indeed became the treasury officer, releasing money for sundry activities, including to prayer contractors, purchase of properties for government officials, political campaigns, etc.
The NSA’s office also bought arms and ammunition for the fight against insurgency in the North-east. The processes for the award of contracts had been found to be faulty and several of the service chiefs and military commanders are now facing trial for diversion of the arms funds. Choice properties acquired  with the stolen funds have been seized by the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Many of the arrested former officials in the administration and other politicians  confessed to have received funds funneled to them through the NSA office.
I have been looking forward to the day the ex-president would speak about the $2.1 billion arms fund, for which the ex-NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki has been detained and denied freedom since September last year, while facing trial in court. Each time the ex-president was asked by journalists about the massive corruption and exposure of diversion of public funds under his administration, he would plead no comment on the grounds that the matter is sub judice.
While acknowledging that cases were in court, Jonathan, however, for the first time attempted a defence of his embattled NSA last Tuesday. He chose the platform of the Oxford Union where he delivered a lecture to debunk the allegations that $2.1billion funds meant for arms purchase was stolen.
“They said the national security adviser stole $2.2 billion. I don’t believe  anybody can just steal $2.2 billion.
“We bought warships, we bought aircraft, we bought lots of weapons for the Army and so on and so forth and you are still saying $2.2 billion. So, where did we get the money to buy all those things?”
The ex-president nevertheless conceded that there were issues of corruption, but that they had been  exaggerated.
Jonathan insisted that, “you cannot say the national security adviser stole $2.2 billion. It is not just possible.”
Is the former president just displaying naivety here or is he sure of himself? I would have thought it was better for him to keep sealed lips until the courts decide the cases. Conceding that there was theft under his watch, but denying the figure at this time does not speak well of his competence as president, the most educated of all who had had the opportunity of occupying the office; a Ph.D holder.
For heaven’s sake, many of those involved in the sharing of public funds including the NSA had alleged that they acted on the president’s instructions.
When ex-Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi alleged in 2014 that $20 billion oil money was missing,  Jonathan, then still in the saddle, similarly dismissed the allegation as untrue, an exaggeration.
He declared during a presidential media chat that, “If anyone steals $50 billion or $20 billion anywhere, America will know. They will tell you where it is. It is their money.”
While all that happened, Nigeria turned a pariah. America simply decided not to have any deal with the government. The US authorities refused to sell arms to us to fight Boko Haram. They would not just have any serious engagement with the Jonathan administration apparently because of the information available to them on the massive corruption in the government at that time.
The Jonathan era ended and President Muhammadu Buhari visited Washington, where a US State Department official revealed to Buhari and his entourage that a former minister in the Jonathan administration cornered as much as $6 billion oil money?
“The man (US State Department official) said even by Washington standard, that is earth-shaking,” the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole who was at the meeting said.
Should Jonathan not just keep quiet now and allow the anti-graft and security agencies and the law courts clear the Augean stables? Maybe by the time the investigations and trials are concluded we would be able to determine whether or not $2.1billion  or $2.2 billion or more or less was stolen.
Perhaps Jonathan would just explain to Nigerians how much of arms funds were stolen and how much were used to buy warships, aircraft and weapons.  It may well be that the billions discovered looted were from his security votes to keep the country safe and the boys happy since he reportedly said he was elected to spread wealth, not poverty.