President Olusegun Obasanjo has described allegations by Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Saminu Turaki, that he (Obasanjo), tried to sabotage the northern peace conference by preventing Vice President Atiku Abubakar and nort-hern ministers from attending the peace confab as “untrue and lacking any technical basis.”
The president, in a statement signed by his senior special assistant (media), Mrs Remi Oyo, last Friday, dism-issed the statement credited to the Jigawa State governor, stressing that neither Vice President Atiku nor any government functionary was prevailed upon to boycott the peace meeting by Obas-anjo.
“His (Turaki’s) reported allegations against the pres-ident in today’s (Friday’s) edition of the Daily Trust must therefore be dismissed as a misguided and an unfo-rtunate political sophistry.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Obasanjo did not prevent the vice pre-sident or any of his ministers from attending the northern peace conference.
“The claim by governor Turaki that the president assigned the vice president at to an HIV/AIDS event in Abuja only to come and join him at the occasion is incorrect,” the statement said.
It explained further that the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), had requested President Obas-anjo” attendance at the event but the president in turn requested Vice President Atiku to grace the occasion, since he (Obasanjo), was on an official visit to Port Harc-ourt.
Obasanjo, the statement said, had to return to Abuja earlier than scheduled bec-ause of weather and flight complications and chose to join the vice president at the event “because of his great commitment to the AIDS campaign.
“Governor Turaki’s false allegations notwithstanding, President Obasanjo’s misgivings and reservations ab-out gatherings which tend to polarize the country between north and south remains 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 predilection, that gatherings such as the nort-hern peace conference will give rise to a corresponding southern gathering to the detriment of national unity, is already coming true with the gathering of southern governors holding in Benin today (Friday).
At the end of the peace conference organised by the 19 northern state governors last Thursday, chairman nort-hern Governors Forum, Governor Turaki, had accused President Obasanjo of sabo-taging the conference, while preventing Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the most prominent northerner in the administration, the 25 ministers from the north and other government functionaries from attending.
He said the presidency had tried many times to scu-ttle the conference “because he (Obasanjo) believes we would come here to apportion blame to one another or to tear the country apart.”
Meanwhile, Governor Ibrahim Turaki of Jigawa State and chairman, Northern Peace Conference, has dism-issed allegations that the just concluded conference was a brainchild of Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He said the conference was a collective initiative of all the 19 northern states governors who in the last six mo-nths have tirelessly worked to ensure the success of the conference.
The governor added that those afraid of a united north have taken to rumours and falsehood to puncture the determination of the north to ensure a lasting peace.
According to the governor who spoke on the Jigawa State radio monitored in Dutse, northerners, regar-dless of their beliefs and party affiliations have decided to come together to stop the pervasive destruction that has engulfed the region in the last few years.
Governor Ibrahim Turaki has revealed that peace in the country can only be possible when there is lasting peace in the north.
He told delegates at the Kaduna peace confab that various opponents of a peaceful North have used several tactics to ensure the failure of the conference but to no avail.
“Some said it is sponsored by vice president Atiku, others by other presidential candidates and all sorts of divisive tactics to see to our failure but they failed,” he revealed.
He therefore commended all those who participated in the effort to bring lasting peace to the region, which he described as a shining example for the country.
Governor Turaki also described the confab as a milestone in the search for a lasting peace in Nigeria adding that it has put a beginning to the resolution of the differences bedevilling the region.
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