Notable
Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has accused former Spokesperson to former
President Jonathan, Reuben Abati, of sabotaging his efforts while he
was in office. Clarke said this in response to Abati's article in which
he accused Clark of not recognizing Jonathan as a "son" anymore because
he was out of office. In an email sent to Premiumtimes, Clarke said
"My advice that a publicity committee made up of eminent journalists be put in place in Aso Rock and that media proprietors and senior journalists should be invited to Aso Rock were jettisoned by Abati because of what I suppose is his covetousness, particularly when many journalists and media houses always complained to me that he was not carrying them along.
Dr.
Reuben Abati has risen to the defence of his last employer too late. He
owes the former President apologies for his (Reuben Abati) failure to
perform while in office. I should not be used as a scapegoat. I love
Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan loves me. I
do not recall any favourable remark made by Abati all those years when
he was the chairman of the Editorial Board [of the Guardian] and
syndicated columnist about the former president, His Excellency, Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan. If
I recall correctly, they were always the butt of ridicule by Dr. Reuben
Abati. In fact, he became so notorious and fearless a critic of former
President Jonathan and his wife in the Guardian Newspaper that I had to
draw the attention of my cousin the proprietor of the Guardian newspaper
to his excesses. These
vitriolic attacks on former President Jonathan and his wife only
stopped when he was appointed the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity
by the former president,” he said.
In the email, Clark went further to state that Jonathan was a good president during his tenure.
"He
said he remained proud of the performance of Mr. Jonathan in a number
of areas such as the railway system, economy, fight against polio and
ebola, maternal health, the power sector, etc. He
tarred more roads than any of his predecessors; he turned agriculture
to agro-business, a multibillion dollar business; he built the Almajiri
schools in the Northern parts of this country. He established new
federal universities across this nation; he allowed for free speech
across this nation, and did not mind when he was criticised or, even,
abused. People were not arbitrarily locked up in jail or prison, as he
truly respected the rule of law. He signed the Freedom of Information
Bill into law, which was not done by his predecessors; he modernized the
aviation sector; he convoked a National Conference that brought
Nigerians together and proffered recommendations on how to better bind
Nigerians together as one. He sanitized the electoral system of this
country, unlike what we had before him, when elections results were
announced without actually voting, when ballot snatching were rampant
and common place. He brought transparency into the electoral process –
when people could vote and the votes actually openly counted without
violence. Today he stands as the first African president to concede an
election to an opponent, even before the final counts. In keeping with
my character, I cannot say in private what I cannot say in the public. I
do not therefore, reject or disown Jonathan as my beloved political
son,” he wrote
Edwin Clark claims Reuben Abati sabotaged Jonathan
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Oleh
healthandwealth
