The Weekly Insight says in a front page story headlined: "JJ's image sinks", that President Jerry Rawlings appears to be in a bigger trouble than he will ever manage to admit.

According to the paper, this is because the allegation that he took a bribe of 5 million dollars from the Abacha regime, has done irreparable damage to his image and nobody appears to take denials seriously.

The paper says the President's major problem is how to explain his defence of the Abacha regime in the light of the facts which were available to him at the time.

The Weekly Insight says there is no doubt that President Rawlings knew that General Sani Abacha and a few high-ranking soldiers subverted the will of Nigerians by annulling the June 12 mandate of the late Chief Moshood Abiola.

According to the paper, President Rawlings was aware of Abacha's plunder of the Nigerian national coffers.

"It is clear, therefore, that president Rawlings cannot claim that he was acting on the basis of principle when he moved from one country to the other defending the rottenness of the Abacha government', the paper says. GRi