‘We’re Waiting For Tinubu, El-Rufai To See The Light – Reuben Abati

In a recent one on one sit down with Journalists, The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati has said that his trust in Jonathan’s abilities is the reason he is serving under the present administration.

Reuben-Abati

Talking with The Tribune, the spokesman said that the administration after getting Ribadu to switch to the party are now waiting for  likes of Oby Ezekwesili, Nasir El Rufai, Dino Melaye, Bola Tinubu and their ‘Northern godfathers’ to also ‘see the light and allow the light set them free’.
Excerpts:
What is his perception of the pressure people, particularly the overtly pro-Jonathan groups, with television commercials, radio jingles and newspaper advertisements are putting on him to contest? How does he see them?
President Jonathan is not under any pressure. I think it will not be right to say that the president is under pressure. The people who are agitating that they want the president are supporters of the president. They are people who admire him. They are people who are saying the president has done very well and he deserves a second term. They are people who are saying that President Jonathan is the best man for the job. They are free to express themselves. There is freedom of association, freedom of expression. And if you look at the papers, APC blackmailers have been falling over themselves to discredit the Jonathan administration.
I mean, there has been no campaign yet, nobody has called out any campaign but the APC is running negative advertorials on the President almost on a daily basis. And yet you have some other groups coming up and saying ‘no, we will not allow you to tarnish the image of our leader, we will not allow you to distort the truth.’ You find all of that on the pages of the newspapers.
It is a good development that there are people who are saying they will not allow anybody to pull down this administration or discredit President Jonathan. They are also Nigerians. They are stakeholders. They live in this country. And they say when the APC comes up with their negative information, they will confront the APC and go to the public with the facts and the figures.
Listen to their message. They are saying that this is a President who has performed. This is a president who is focused this is a president who is the best man for the job and on the basis of all of that, they say they want the President to run for a second term. And I think you cannot deny them their right to also express their own opinion.
One of the most used words by the opposition or people who don’t like Jonathan is that he is “clueless.” Looking back, from what you have said about the president’s achievement, how do you respond to that?
I have had cause to respond to those people on many occasions. It is very obvious now that it is those people criticizing President Jonathan who are totally clueless. They have no idea whatsoever. You are beginning to see it now. The thing around their neck is beginning to play out. Some of their key spokespersons who used to criticize President Jonathan are now all rushing to come to the President’s party. They are in fact gate-crashing.
I mean, one of the key figures in the APC has declared for the PDP in his home state in Adamawa. And that is a man who was once famously quoted as saying that Nigeria under President Jonathan is a sinking ship. The same man is joining that ship because he has seen that the ship is not sinking at all and that the captain of the ship is a good captain who is providing quality leadership. He has seen the light and the light has set him free. That is the kind of illumination that has been happening to many of these persons. They suddenly see the light and they recant and I am very happy.
Even a former governor and a former Minister have also joined the PDP. These are people who used to criticize the ruling government, these are people who used to criticize President Jonathan but they keep seeing the light. We welcome such people.
So, the same people you are quoting, many of them are coming into the PDP. Many of them are joining President Jonathan. And I believe that as we move towards 2015, you will find more and more people like that. We don’t need to say anything anymore. The Lord Almighty is winning the battle for us.
These are the people who championed the various abuses and they are turning to our side now and supporting us. I mean, there was one person in the fold of APC who even said I was the child of a same-sex marriage just because I pointed out to him that his criticism of President Jonathan was unfair. Today, he is one of the leading defenders of President Jonathan. The thing speaks for itself, then.
They even now make my job easier because those people that I used to fight with, they are coming to our side one by one. We are waiting for Nasir el-Rufai, Lai Muhammed, Oby Ezekwesili, Dino Melaye, and the Jagaban (Bola Tinubu) and their Northern godfathers: may they all see the light, and may the light set them free. And that tells you something, that we have a president who is a true leader who in the fullness of time, you find his worst critics, becoming his strongest promoters. And that is our point; this whole thing should not be about ego, it is about doing the best in all circumstances for our country. Nigeria must and will prevail. We welcome everybody who is willing to be part of that national agenda of progress and transformation.

 

Reuben Abati was born on November 7, 1965 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria and is the present Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. He is a former journalist and chairman of the editorial board of the Nigerian newspaper, The Guardian from 2001 to 2011.

1 COMMENT