Wikileaks Cable: Jonathan Debunks Contents Of US Govt. Memo

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 10, (THEWILL) – President Goodluck Jonathan has responded to a statement contained in a leaked US government memo published on whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks.

In a statement from his media adviser, Mr Ima Niboro, the President said the comment in the memo that he ‘lacked administrative experience’ during the power struggle that occurred during late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s last days in office “is an unfair account severely impacted by selective perception and individual expectations.”

The statement in full reads:

ON WIKILEAKS AND ALL THAT

Wikileaks is the new travesty that international diplomacy has to deal with. Nigeria is no exception.

The point to be made is that the accounts of meetings between President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and US diplomats are essentially third party narratives, and are largely inaccurate.

The President, in those tempestuous days during which the nation tottered on the brink, held meetings, and then more meetings, with different groups, the diplomatic community inclusive.

The President met with different diplomats and special envoys who offered different suggestions on a way out of the impasse that our late leader's health had imposed on the nation. We note that this account is largely silent on these suggestions.

Instead, what is served up is an unfair account severely impacted by selective perception and individual expectations. For instance, how can it be said that a man who had been a Deputy Governor, an Acting Governor, a governor, a Vice President, and then Acting President could have described himself as “lacking in administrative experience”.

That the President holds a Ph.D, was a lecturer for 10 years, and was an Assistant Director at the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, do not make the statement less rankling.

This only goes to show that the report itself is a souped up version of the standard conversation that takes place in such meetings. We find this account as wholly unfortunate, and we are only employing the best of diplomatic finesse in that statement!

Ima NiboroSpecial Adviser to the President,Media and Publicity.