AU Summit: presidency, CPC trade words

The presidency yesterday joined issues with the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC) over the conduct of President Goodluck Jonathan at the just-concluded African Union Summit in Ethiopia.

The CPC had criticised Jonathan for missing the opportunity to address the AU Summit, which was meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the union.

But the presidency, in a statement through its Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, critisised CPC’s position.

Abati said: “President Jonathan as the leader of the Nigerian delegation to the AU summit in Addis Ababa and the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) indeed put up a sterling performance, using the opportunity of the trip to further promote Nigeria’s interests and to strengthen Nigeria’s relationships with other countries.

“He held bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary General and the leaders of Jamaica, Egypt, Swaziland, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire. He granted interviews to the media, local and international. He also participated in a special session on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, at which he invited other world leaders to the Abuja+12 conference to be hosted in Nigeria, mid-June. “President Jonathan is an accomplished diplomat and a responsible leader under whose watch, Nigeria’s foreign policy process and international relations have been strengthened with commendable results.

“No slot was missed because no country was under any compulsion to speak. Any country that wished to make a statement indicated the interest to do so, by pressing the button at its own convenience.

“Nigeria had indicated an interest to speak, but the President needed to attend an urgent ECOWAS meeting on the Lagos-Abidjan Highway, to be attended by five West African countries, to take a report by the Nigerian Minister of Works who is the chair of the regional inter-Ministerial body on the proposed Lagos-Abidjan Highway. I have since circulated the conclusions of that meeting.

“While President Jonathan was attending that meeting, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, the Minister of Foreign Affairs presented our statement to the OAU at 50 on President Jonathan’s behalf. I have also since circulated the full text of that statement.

“ In other words, Nigeria’s voice was heard, loud and clear. Let it be noted that President Jonathan’s attendance of a meeting on the sidelines of the AU Summit was perfectly in order, and he attended quite a number, just as Minister Olugbenga Ashiru was not the only Foreign Affairs Minister who spoke on behalf of a President at the Summit. So, where did CPC spokesman, Rotimi Fashakin get his information from that nobody represented Nigeria?

“In this attempt to pull President Jonathan down at all costs, lies have become standard stuff, mischief a major commodity, and indecency a character flaw. President Jonathan does not owe anyone an apology for serving Nigeria diligently and truthfully.

“By the same token, I consider the reference to Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in that statement as a red herring. Again, I advise Fashakin to read the newspapers so he can be abreast of developments, the only way he can get close to being an effective spokesperson. I had made it clear that President Jonathan has no hand in the Governors Forum crisis, and we stand by that position.

But CPC’s National Publicity Secretary Fashakin, said the party was surprised that Abati’s response was laced with vile verbiage

In a statement in Abuja, CPC spokesman said: “The Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, responded to the observation raised by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on the just-concluded African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with such unmitigated incivility that easily evinces the pressure currently enveloping the entire apparatus of the Presidency.

He said: “I invite the discerning Nigerian public to come along as we sift the facts in the story as told by Abati the battered hireling.

“President Jonathan, as head of the Nigerian delegation, left the country for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the AU summit. In diplomatic arena, that was the primary objective of the delegation. This presupposes that any other business is secondary! Furthermore, Dr Jonathan indicated to address the summit, and was permitted.

“But he, in his wisdom, believed other matters were more important than the primary objective of being in Addis-Ababa. Obviously, this line of logic showed Abati …is obviously hiding the vital truth from Nigerians.

“Not done, he went on to say that the Minister for Foreign Affairs presented the President’s statement at the summit. We shudder to think that all the Nigerian tax payers’ funds used in paying the humongous estacodes for Reuben Abati and his colleagues on the President’s entourage was for mere submission of a statement after the summit!

“He further asserted that Jonathan was not the only President that was represented by the country’s foreign minister. Again, the poor spinning skills of Abati came to fore. We know Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara, Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, represented his President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, who was unavoidably absent at the summit. Abati failed to tell us the other foreign ministers, aside Nigeria’s, that represented Presidents who were physically present for the AU summit!

“If we may ask: is submission of a statement by a foreign minister after a conference coterminous with the President, using the stage, to articulate the nation’s position on the regional discourse?

“The entire hog-wash Abati chose to call a State-House press statement aptly underscored the incompetence that has become the trade mark of the Jonathan presidency!”