Against the widely held perception that former President
Goodluck Jonathan, was usually hooked on alcohol,
during the twilight of his administration, his former
spokesperson, Reuben Abati, has clarified that Jonathan
doesn’t drink, adding that it’s only one of the myths about
the last administration.
Abati, who made the defence of his former boss during a
recent interview with Rockcity 101.9 FM, Abeokuta,
Ogun State, said he only saw Jonathan drink a glass of
wine during special occasions, explaining that the former
President never had any episode of drunken to stupor.
Abati said: “President Jonathan does not drink. You see,
that’s one of the myths about that administration and you
must understand how this thing is, it’s all about
perception, communication, it’s all about what goes out
and it’s about stereotyping. People just stereotype people
from a particular part of the country as drunkards, and
they look for justification for one type of behaviour or the
other.
“But I can tell you that in my 4 years of working for
President Jonathan, I never found him in a bibulous
situation. If he ever tasted any drink, maybe a glass of
wine during special occasions. All those stories about him
drinking, about President Jonathan always being berated,
about bibulous situations inside the Villa, those things did
not exist.
“The people must find justifications to say this is why we
think this situation is this way it is. I tell you and
Nigerians will remember that he is a very humble man;
he is a very committed person to the Nigerian project. If
you look at the results of the elections, you’ll see that he
lost the elections with about 2.5 million votes or
thereabout, which means that a large number of
Nigerians still believed in him and also believed in his
ability and his capability of his administration to move
Nigeria forward. We were dealing with a democracy;
the people have a right to make a choice, when the people
make a choice, we respect that choice.
“And our commitment as Nigerians, whoever we may be,
whatever we maybe our station, is to remain committed
to Nigeria, and to support whoever has emerged and to
respect the choice and the decision of Nigerians.
“This is not about witch-hunt, it’s not about criticising
people, the Nigerian people have spoken and we stand by
the decision of the Nigerian people. And we all support
whoever is there to move Nigeria forward. So this
backward looking, can we just look forward? Can we all
just work together to move Nigeria forward? For me,
that is where the emphasis should be, because we are all
Nigerians and at the end of the day the country is more
important than all of us” he said.
-Vanguard
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