Address Me As 'Mr. President', Not Commander of the Armed Forces - GEJ

San Francisco, Oct 24, (THEWILL) - Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan has asked to be addressed as Mr. President, dropping the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces from his official title, according to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report.

The agency quoted Nigerian Vice President, Namadi Sambo as saying that: “Mr. President has removed the title, ‘Commander of the Armed Forces.’ He has directed that he should only be referred to as Mr. President,” Sambo told his audience at the Oxford University, where he delivered a lecture to the Oxford International Relations Society.

The report said the Vice President was responding to a question from the audience on why Nigerian leaders are always addressed by long titles. Sambo also informed the audience that the long list of protocols at formal events have been jettisoned.

“During the declaration where we declared to participate in the up-coming elections, it was very clear that Mr. President said reading of long list of protocols before the main address be reduced. If you noticed, if it were before, I would recognise everybody on my entourage and the audience, including you,’’ Sambo said.

The Vice President, who was on a three-day working visit to the United Kingdom, was accompanied by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman; Minister of Works, Senator Muhammed Daggash; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Salamatu Ibrahim and a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martins Uhomoibhi.

The Vice President’s lecture at the Oxford University was titled: “Vision 20:2020: Nigeria’s Agenda for the Membership of the New Emergent G20 Economic Group.’’