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Obasanjo to Turaki: You're Misguided
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja, 12.04.2004
Yet another governor has fallen out with President Olusegun Obasanjo. The latest is Alhaji Saminu Turaki of Jigawa whom the presidency has described as "misguided" for accusing Obasanjo of sabotaging the just-concluded Northern Peace Conference held in Kaduna State. Turaki had reportedly accused the President of stopping Vice President Atiku Abubakar and all ministers of Northern origin from attending the conference. Obasanjo's reaction through the office of the Senior Special Assistant on Media Affairs to the President, described Turaki's utterance as "misguided and unfortunate political sophistry." In the statement which was signed by Justin Abuah, the Presidency stated that on receipt of a letter of invitation to the conference, Obasanjo asked his Chief of Staff, Major-General Abdullahi Moham-med (rtd) to respond by conveying the President's inability to honour the invitation and also his "misgivings about the propriety and possible consequences of the congregation." The Chief of Staff's reply, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY, states that "while it is understandable that states within one of the six geo-political zones may wish to meet and address problems of the zone in common, our history must guide us to avoid the risk of polarising the nation between the North and the South again. "A Forum of Northern Governors is sure to give rise to a corresponding Forum of Southern Governors with all the potential of re-awakening regional rivalries and loyalties to the detriment of national cohesion". The Presidencyâ??s reply entitled "Northern Peace Conference" with a file number SH/COS/36/3947, who noted that while a gathering of peace should ordinarily be regarded as a welcome development, Turaki, who is also chairman of the Northern Governors' Forum, â??reconsider the merit of this regional initiative vis-a-vis the clear need for strengthening our national unity.â?? This position was also reaffirmed in yesterdayâ??s statement from the office of the President's Senior Special Assistant on Media Affairs which stated that "Governor Turaki's false allegations notwithstanding, President Obasanjo's misgivings and reservations about gatherings which tend to polarise the country between north and south remain very valid and the President has no apologies for placing national unity above all other sectional, group or individual interests. "In point of fact, the President's prediction that gatherings such as the Northern Peace Conference will give rise to corresponding Southern gatherings to the detriment of national unity is already coming true with the meeting of Southern Governors holding in Benin today (yesterday)," the statement added. The Presidency, giving reasons for the absence of the Vice President at the Northern Peace Conference stated that 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 claim of Governor Turaki that the President 'assigned' the Vice President a HIV/AIDS event in Abuja â??only to come and join him at the occassionâ?? is incorrect. "The facts of the matter are that the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) requested the President's attendance at the event and was advised by his office to invite the Vice President instead as the President was not expected back from his official visit to Port Harcourt until after the event on Wednesday, December 1, 2004. "Well after the invitation had been issued directly to the Vice President by NACA, a change of plans occassioned by weather considerations forced the President to return to Abuja earlier than scheduled at about 0200 hours on Wednesday morning and because of his great commitment to the campaign against HIV/AIDS, he chose to join Vice President at the NACA event." Governor Turaki, had in a letter to President Obasanjo dated November 22, 2004, a copy of which was also made available to THISDAY, noted that there was no doubt that holding the conference would be "a noble cause which you (Obasanjo) will want to be associated and identified with." The governor, while inviting the President, noted that "basically, the objective of the Regional Conference is to restore and re-invigorate love for one another for which Northerners were known, thus paving the way for the return of religious backgrounds." Turaki had, according to newspaper reports while speaking Thursday at the close of the Peace Conference stated that "I (Governor Turaki) also attribute the absence of all the ministers, about 25 of them from the North, to the President because none of them can say this conference does not affect him or concern him." The governor added that "conference is not organised by a single person for the purpose of self-aggrandisement, but to seek honest solutions (to problems) affecting the North and Nigeria by extension." In recent times, Obasanjo has been at loggerheads with some governors, notably Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos and Chief Joshua Dariye of Plateau and made indicting remarks about governors who spend state money on "burying mama" and celebrating "papa's birthday."
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