By SaharaReporters, New York
Several diplomats at the 50th anniversary summit of the OAU in Addis Ababa have confirmed to SaharaReporters that the Nigerian president was too irate and inebriated to go and address the meeting yesterday.
Saharareporters had revealed yesterday that Mr. Jonathan failed to show up when it was his turn to address of a summit African heads of states who met in Addis Ababa starting midweek.
Several sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan was so infuriated over the outcome of an election by the Nigerian Governors's Forum that he drank himself to a stupor.
"Mr. President made several calls to Governor Godswill Akpabio rebuking him for allowing the elections to take place even when it was clear that the president's candidate Governor Jonah Jang was likely to lose", says one of our sources.
The account of what led Jonathan's failure to deliver his speech contradicted an explanation offered by President Jonathan's spokesman, Reuben Abati.
Mr. Abati contacted several media organizations yesterday to claim that President Jonathan was engaged with a small meeting on "West Africa Infrastructure" at the time that he was supposed to give the speech.
One of our sources indicated that Mr. Jonathan indeed had a problem with Diarrhoea, adding that the ailment was a direct result of the president's excessive drinking to the wee hours the night before.
A Nigerian who was present in the hall also disclosed that Mr. Jonathan look unsteady when he eventually returned for a photo-op with other African leaders.
Mr. Jonathan is known to have an intestinal disorder referred to as 'Amoebic Colitis'. Last February he underwent testing at the London Clinic on Harley Street to check up on the disease.
AU Summit: Jonathan Didn’t Miss Slot To Speak – Presidency
This was just as he urged African leaders to put an end to the abuse of power and allow the voices of the people to prevail whenever they are expressed democratically.
Debunking the said report that he was nowhere to be found in the hall to deliver his speech at the summit, hence compelling the summit’s Master of Ceremony to skip Nigeria for another speaker, Jonathan who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said that the report was mischievous as there was no truth in it.
The President said that he participated fully in the opening ceremony of the session until he went into another hall where he and four other Presidents met on the proposed six-lane Lagos-Abidjan Expressway which is also an important issue as far as Nigeria was concerned.
According Abati, before leaving the hall for the meeting, President Jonathan asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador OlugbengaAshiru, to read his already prepared statement and the minister did just that, and added that Nigeria was not the only country whose statement was read by a minister during the session.
The presidential spokesman said, “It is perfectly normal for Presidents to meet on the sidelines of any international meeting, and as the AU plenary went on, many Presidents stepped out to hold bilateral meetings and returned to the hall.
“Where they are listed to make a statement in a plenary session and as it happened in our case, the President had gone to attend a meeting on the sidelines, the minister sitting in for the President can ask for a different slot to enable his principal return to the hall to make the statement.
“Where he does not do this, he may opt to present the country’s statement. It was not only Ambassador GbengaAshiru who presented the country statement on behalf of their principals. So, as you can see, there is nothing amiss here.
“President Jonathan was perfectly in order. He did not abandon his duty post. He was in fact busy at work on behalf of Nigerians. I see the mischief that has suddenly erupted around this matter as a classic case of much ado about nothing.
“President Jonathan is an accomplished diplomat; under his watch, Nigeria’s relationship with other countries has continued to grow strong. We are witnessing under this administration, a truly golden and glorious moment in Nigeria’s foreign policy process, an achievement which President Jonathan cherishes.”
Meanwhile, President Jonathan who spoke through Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador GbengaAshiru at the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Organisation of African Union/African Union on Saturday said the African leaders owe it to themselves and to future generations to ensure that Africa succeeds.
In his speech read by the minister, Jonathan said, “while political independence has been won and colonialism, apartheid and minority rule have been defeated, we are yet to overcome the challenges of neo-colonialism, poverty, disease, violent conflicts, environmental degradation, under-development and economic dependency”.
He said, “With Africa free of all its crises and violent conflicts, we must commit to deepen our democratic governance and rule of law. We must give voice to, and respect the wishes of our people when they express them democratically, freely and openly. Democracy must be allowed to flourish unimpeded in all our countries. We must end the culture of abuse of power and impunity. We must embrace the culture of accountability, equity and justice.
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