The Presidency has again distanced President Goodluck
Jonathan from the Rivers State crisis and other political matters heating up
the polity. His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who
was on a radio programme titled:
“Fact File” on Raypower F.M, on Monday said despite President Jonathan’s
insistence that the politics of 2015 was distracting and slowing down delivery
of good governance, those obsessed with the election were bent on distracting
the President.
Abati said contrary to the belief that the President’s 2015
ambition was overheating the polity, Jonathan had never stated his position on
his second term, rather, he has persistently called for concentration on good
governance at all levels. He said the President led by example by presenting
the Mid- Term report of his two years at Aso Rock Villa.
On why it took the President this long to admit that
politicians were overheating the polity and his pledge to call them to order,
Abati said: “Well, the first thing that Nigerians must know is that President
Jonathan is not just President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he
is also the premier political leader in the country. What that means, of
course, is that he has the responsibility to ensure security and the well-being
of Nigerians. And in that case, he, as the number one person in the country
will not, will never at any time, stand by while there are issues within the
polity that could overheat the polity. And it was within that context that he
made the point when he met with the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) leadership that he had the primary
responsibility to put an end to the political excesses that seem to be
overheating the polity. And I think the President should be commended for his
being sensitive and being fully aware of the primary responsibility not just as
Head of State, but also as Head of Government and as head of the political
process and as a citizen and as a patriot,” Abati said.
The presidential spokesman noted that Jonathan has directed
him on four occasions to issue statements on the same matter and that it was
not true that he was just reacting.
“Well, Mr. President meets with people on a daily basis,
people from different constituencies, different groups. When the NBA visited,
they brought up the issue about the political process and the President said
look, what is overheating the polity is because people are obsessed with 2015
and that he, as a person, believes that we are in 2013 and we should continue
to focus on good governance at all levels. And it didn’t take the visit of the
NBA for the president to make that statement, he has directed me to issue
statements more than four times on this particular issue to say look, if as the
political leader, as the Head of State he is not talking about election, he is
talking about how to provide leadership and transform the lives of Nigerians.
And that should be the focus at all levels. At that meeting with NBA, he
alluded to the fact that some people are just desperate for power and he made
the point that the issue is not about desperation, the issue is not about
power, is about governance”.
On the allegation that the President’s 2015 ambition was
also heating up the polity and that he has a hand in the crisis in Rivers State,
Abati replied, “well to the best of my knowledge, the President has never at
any time discussed 2015. He has never at any time said this is his position on
2015. His position has been consistent and straight-forward and that has been
the President, saying look let’s focus on governance.
“If the Nigerian people have given you an assignment to
deliver and move the country forward, that is what we want to focus on. And
that was the statement about the Mid-Term report that was publicly presented.
Two years down the line, the President presented to the Nigerian people the
scorecard of what they have been able to do.
“He said I took over and now two years down the line, I have
moved the country forward, this is the evidence. Nobody has been able to
dispute the evidence. So, we must be able to make a distinction between
politicking, the fact and reality. The President stands on the side of
truthfulness, of fact, of reality. So, he wants to be engaged at the level of
his performance. And I will continue to tell Nigerians that this presidency
will remain focused. He is doing the job that Nigerians have given him and he
is making progress and has provided evidence that he is making progress. People
who concentrate on politics want to distract Mr. President”, he said.
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