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Obasanjo, Jigawa Gov trade words
... Over northern peace confab
LERE OJEDOKUN,
Abuja
THE
Presidency and Gov. Saminu Turaki of Jigawa State look set for a major battle,
as the former yesterday accused the latter of embarking on a "misguided and
unfortunate political sophistry".
The crux of the matter is the allegation
by Gov. Turaki that President Olusegun Obsanjo planned to "sabotage" the hosting
of the just - concluded Northern Peace Conference in Kaduna, by preventing Vice
President Atiku Abubakar and 25 ministers of northern extraction from attending
the meeting.
Alhaji Turaki had on Thursday accused the
president of deliberately asking his vice to stay back in Abuja to attend the
World AIDS Day on Wednesday which he (Obasanjo) later attended. The peace
conference held on Wednesday and Thursday.
But apparently miffed by the governor’s
vituperation on Obasanjo, the Presidency yesterday replied Alhaji Turaki
dismissing the allegations as "most untrue".
In a statement signed by Mr. Justin Abuah
on behalf of the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media, Mrs.
Oluremi Oyo, Gov. Turaki was floored on several fronts.
"The allegation by the governor that
President Obasanjo tried to sabotage the conference is most untrue and the claim
that he was responsible for the absence of the vice president and Northern
ministers is also without any factual basis", it said.
It further states that though the
president was invited to the World AIDs Day by the National Action Committee on
AIDs (NACA), Obasanjo’s office however advised that Atiku be invited instead
because the former was not expected back from an official visit to Port Harcourt
until after the Wednesday events.
The statement which further faulted the
governor’s claim that Obasanjo later attended the early morning event at the
Eagles Square, in a manner suggestive of a hidden agenda, said weather
considerations actually forced the president to return to Abuja earlier than
scheduled at about 2.00am that Wednesday.
Aside, it asserted that the president hard
clearly in his reply to Gov. Turaki’s latter marked NGF/GEN/S/1/T, and dated
November 22 expressed misgivings about the conference, citing political
implications as reasons.
While the governor wrote Obasanjo in his (Alhaji
Turaki’s) capacity as chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), he had
expressed hope that the president would support such initiative, meant "to
restore and re-invigorate the confidence, support and love for one another for
which Northerners were known".
President Obasanjo in a reply through his
Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed (rtd) was not disposed to the
conference, saying it was capable of "polarising the nation between the north
and the south again".
The presidency faulted the governor’s
claims which it maintained were "without any factual basis" even as it posited
that "having received a written response from his Chief of Staff, Gov. Turaki is
well aware of the president’s stand and misgiving about sectional gatherings."
"For the avoidance of doubt, President
Obasanjo did not prevent the vice president or any of his ministers from
attending the Northern Peace Conference", the statement added.
While positing that Obasanjo’s aversion to
any gathering likely to polarise the country remained "very valid" government
declared that "the president has we apologies for placing national unity above
all other sectional, group or individual interests".
In what also seemed his tactic opposition
to the on-going Southern Governors, holding in Benin City, the Edo State
capital, President Obasanjo averred that his fears on possible threat to
national unity were becoming real.
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