Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State from
exchanging pleasantries with President Goodluck
Jonathan by a security operative during dinner at the
Presidential
Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
It said the incident was purely a security issue that
should not be politicised,especially by opposition political
parties.
The governor, who was sitting two tables away from
the President, had risen to greet him but the security
operative attached to the President stopped him halfway.
In order not to create a scene at the event that had
nearly all his colleagues and two heads of government
(Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of
Liberia) in attendance, Amaechi quietly returned to his
seat and waited for about five minutes before leaving
the venue.
But as the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for
Progressive Change berated Jonathan over the
incident, the Special Adviser to the President on Political
Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said it was tantamount to
a breach of protocol and security if Amaechi was allowed
access to his boss who was already seated before the
governor arrived.
Gulak said, "The President has a good relationship with
all state governors and he meets with them regularly.
The case in point is a pure security issue and it should be
treated as a security issue that should not be politicised.
"The question the ACN and others who may want to
politicise this issue need to ask is whether the President
arrived at the venue of the dinner and was already
seated before the governor arrived.
"Usual practice across the world is that once the President
arrives a place, nobody whether a governor or not, is
allowed entrance. That is the protocol. Even(Barack)
Obama of the United States cannot be on his seat and a
governor will be allowed to come in.
"If that was the situation in this case that the President
was already on his seat, it would have been a breach of
protocol and security for any security person to allow the
governor access to the President. Such a security person
would have been sanctioned if he had done that."
Wondering why the ACN was interested in the matter,
the presidential aide advised the opposition political
parties to "concentrate on issues concerning them and
stop politicising everything."
The ACN had in a statement by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, condemned the action
of the operative and called on Jonathan to order an
immediate probe into it.
It said, "We are making this call because we do not
believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations
between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of
the nation – will lend the weight of his high office to
such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential
security personnel.
"To believe that anyone occupying the esteemed office of
the President of one of Africa's most important nations
will be a party to a situation in which any security aide
will wilfully fence a state chief executive from paying
his respect to the President at such an open gathering
will be to think the worst of the occupier of that office.
That is why we have chosen not to believe that this
indeed occurred, and why we are calling on Mr.
President to tell Nigerians that 'it ain't so' "We shudder to
think of what efforts are being made – including the
use of national institutions – to undermine Gov.
Amaechi if the treatment reportedly meted out to him at
the dinner has the approval of the powers that be. We are
even more worried at what will happen to a governor
from the opposition who falls out of favour with the
President, if a governor from the same party as the
President can be so publicly humiliated."
ACN said it was particularly incumbent on the President
to clarify the report because Amaechi, the authentic
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, extended
an olive branch to him by attending the dinner, despite
the fact that he (President) was publicly supporting the
losing faction of the NGF, in what was being seen as a
"democratic faux pas."
The party said the President must learn to separate
politics from governance by rising above petty
partisanship as he steered the affairs of state.
On its part, the Congress for Progressive Change said
it was clear to many discerning minds that "the
government of President Jonathan is being run like a
mafia organisation where you have the head at the
Villa."
"This is the kind of price we pay when we sacrifice
competence on the altar of exigency," the CPC said
through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi
Fashakin.
The party added, "We have always said it that the way
President Jonathan is running this country; he will
run it aground.
"No Nigerian can be proud of what is happening in a
situation where nations of the world are improving
their democratic credentials; we are going towards
further isolation.
"A situation where a chief executive is being blocked by
security apparatus of the President, you ask yourself
what hope mortals like us have under the Jonathan
government."
credits: nigerianbulletin.com
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