President Goodluck Jonathan
The
Presidency has stated that President Goodluck Jonathan will return to
Nigeria on Sunday evening (today) from London, where he attended the
15th meeting of the Honorary International Investors Council.
Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati,
who announced the President’s return via a statement, also disclosed
that Jonathan’s illness while in London was due to severe abdominal
pains.
He added that doctors who examined and
treated the President certified him fully fit to return home and
continue his official duties.
He said, “The President is scheduled to
depart from London at about 1400 hours GMT and arrive at the
Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about
2000 hours.
“He seizes this opportunity to thank all
Nigerians once again for their sympathy, support and prayers for his
quick recovery following the announcement of his indisposition,” the
statement added.
Meanwhile, Jonathan on Saturday denied
reports in a section of the media that his health broke down in London
after engaging in drinking spree during a bash organised to mark his
56th birthday.
He said contrary to the claim, he
observed his birthday on Wednesday quietly with better part of the day
spent on air from Abuja to London while the remaining part was spent in
the privacy of his hotel room.
The clarification was contained in a
statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.
Jonathan said the section of the media
with the wrong information were not beyond the bounds of legal action
for libel and wilful defamation of the character and reputation of the
President “who has courageously stepped forward to serve his country.”
The President, however, thanked
Nigerians, including his supporters, friends and political associates
who expressed and conveyed their sympathies and solidarity with him,
through various means.
He observed that his sudden
indisposition came while he was on a mission to attract investments to
Nigeria in keeping with his agenda for national transformation.
He also commended the generality of the
mainstream media, whose coverage of his health challenge in London, he
described as mostly factual, objective, fair-minded and supportive.
The statement read, “We however condemn
the utterly irresponsible, deplorable, highly unprofessional and
unethical antics of certain fringe elements operating in the nebulous
sphere of cyberspace, who persist in seizing every opportunity to
unjustifiably malign and impugn the character and integrity of the
elected leader of their country.
“It is very regrettable indeed that
after complying with President Jonathan’s standing instruction that
Nigerians must never be kept in the dark about the state of his health,
the public was duly informed that the President had received
precautionary medical attention for an unexpected indisposition in
London, Sahara Reporters and some other reckless, lawless, impudent and
unpatriotic internet-based media chose to assault the sensibilities of
all decent Nigerians again with their entirely fictional, malicious,
hate-driven and scurrilous distortion of the facts of the President’s
indisposition.
“The suggestion by Sahara Reporters
that President Jonathan took ill following a ‘heavy birthday party
thrown to celebrate the President’s 56th birthday at his Presidential
suite in the InterContinental Hotel in London’ is fictional nonsense as
there was definitely no party in London to celebrate President
Jonathan’s birthday on Wednesday night.
“The truth is that President Jonathan
observed his 56th birthday anniversary quietly. For part of the day, he
was airborne, in transit between Abuja and London. On arrival in
London, he spent the rest of the day in the privacy of his hotel room.
It has never been his custom to celebrate birthday anniversaries and no
exception was made this year. No birthday party was therefore held for
the President in London and there was certainly no drinking spree as
Sahara Reporters claimed.
“As unregulated as they are, Sahara
Reporters and their ilk are not beyond the bounds of legal action for
libel and wilful defamation of the character and reputation of a
President who has courageously stepped forward to serve his country.
“They know very well that they can never
substantiate or prove the constant false allegations and innuendoes
they publish for the sole purpose of negatively portraying President
Jonathan and his administration.
“Their incessant claim of a bibulous
President is pure fiction and blackmail, and the product of malicious
imagination. We warn that our forbearance of their disrespectful
caricaturing of the President is not limitless.”
The President maintained that nobody was beyond health challenges irrespective of their station in life.
He said that, sadly, this commonplace
fact appeared to be beyond the understanding of the publishers of the
online medium who he said seemed to have lost all sense of propriety,
decency and human compassion.
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