In a statement issued in Lagos Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the revelation by the First Lady on the extent of her illness, especially the fact that she passed out for seven days before God miraculously brought her back to life, cannot but elicit joy among Nigerians, irrespective of their political leanings.
However, Nigerians must be wondering why the government they elected into office chose to lie to them that the First Lady was holidaying abroad when indeed she was gravely ill in a foreign hospital. He said: “While we felicitate with the First Lady on her recovery from whatever illness it was that afflicted her, we will be remiss if we fail to recollect how the Presidency denied ‘rumours’ of her illness and poured scorn on the media and the imaginary enemies of the government for fuelling the ‘satanic rumours.’
“We will also like to remind the presidency that its denial, instead of full disclosure that would have elicited nothing more than fervent prayers from Nigerians, fuelled the rumours that the First Lady suffered from sundry afflictions or the consequences of tummy tuck!” The party said that in one of the many rebuttals, the First Lady’s Spokesperson, Ayo Osinlu, was quoted to have said that she (Mrs. Jonathan) travelled abroad to take a “moment’s rest,” given that she had not taken a rest since President Jonathan’s election.
Osinlu had told Nigerians in the heat of the illness saga: “If you look at her itinerary in August (2012), you will be wondering how she was able to accomplish that; in the course of this week, she will be back home. But remember, it all depends on her plans.” ACN also recalled that the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, dismissed Mrs. Jonathan’s reported illness as a rumour, saying “there is nothing like that.” The party said that amid all the denials, the President himself maintained a stoic mien and carried on with his duties as if all was well, thereby lending credibility to the lies and deceit.
The party said: “The issue here is simple: If the Presidency can so shame-facedly lie on an issue of such public interest as the health of the First Lady, why should we not believe it can lie on any other issue, whether it is economy, politics, social development or any other matter?” For Igbokwe, “President Jonathan and these shenanigans in the Presidency would have learnt sufficient lessons of history from the late President Yar’Adua’s handlers and come out clean to state the real position of things. But they did not.
“They have seen nothing and learnt nothing. They are same of the same. They are birds of identical plumage; they are the same liars from the pit of hell. Our leaders cannot learn. This is a shame!”
Meanwhile, in his reaction to the allegation made by Yoruba leaders over the marginalisation of the South West in the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, Okupe had said the ACN should be partly blamed for supporting a non-Yoruba candidate as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
But the lawmaker representing Epe Federal Constituency, Lagos, Mr. Lanre Odubote, dismissed Okupe’s accusation as fallacy and unfounded. According to him, “it is unimaginable anybody would accuse ACN of marginalising Yoruba because members of the party in the House of Representatives chose to vote for Tambuwal instead of Mrs. Mulikat Akande, who was the candidate of the PDP and the Presidency for same office.”
Another ACN lawmaker representing Alimosho Federal Constituency, Adeola Olamilekan Solomon, said Okupe’s allegation was unreasonable. According to him, “what Yoruba elders were saying was in terms of federal appointment into ministerial positions, parastatals and boards and not the leadership of the House.”
Culled from The Guardian Newspaper
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