The Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro has described the current news rocking the world from the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks as the new travesty that international diplomacy has to deal with, with Nigeria being no exception.
As such to clear the alleged erroneous impression being circulated in Nigeria in relation to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the WikiLeaks, Niboro said the accounts of meetings between President Jonathan and US diplomats are essentially third party narratives, and are largely inaccurate.
In his words, “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 Special Adviser explained that the President met with different diplomats and special envoys who offered diverse suggestions on a way out of the impasse that the country’s late leader’s health had imposed on the nation. “We note that this account is largely silent on these suggestions,” he said.
Instead, Niboro noted that 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 PhD, 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,” he stated.
Consequently, the President’s special adviser on media said the insinuations indicate that the report is a cooked 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,” he declared.
Dec112010