Here is how Premium Times reports it…
Nigeria’s First Lady, Patience
Jonathan, has reacted to comments attributed to Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka,
who blamed her for the protracted political crisis rocking Rivers State,
particularly the violence in the state House of Assembly on Tuesday.
The reaction is coming, just
as the Federal Government also dismissed the allegation as unfounded and
baseless.
Mrs Jonathan, in a statement
by her spokesman, Ayo Osinlu, said Mr. Soyinka betrayed the moral duty expected
of him as a respected member of the society to carefully consider all sides of
an issue before forming opinion.
He said the writer’s
comment about her had made him “an embarrassment to his admirers.”
“Unfortunately, Soyinka
betrayed moral duty in his recent diatribe against Mrs. Patience Jonathan,” Ms
Osinlu said in hjer statement. “Of course, this would not be the first time he
would reach out against the First Lady, usually from self-righteously indignant
lecterns.
“In this particular instance,
his verdict was that Mrs. Jonathan was ‘stoking the crisis currently rocking
her home state of Rivers…’, and thereupon asked Mr. President to caution his
wife.
“The good, old Prof. reminds
one of the truth that indeed, most of the giants on the street are men of like
passions like everyone else. Worse still, most of them are actually standing on
clay feet and would fail the test of a gentle push.
“Otherwise, who would have
believed that the social, civil, constitutional and sundry rights crusader
Prof. would maintain a safe distance from the heart of an activity that is a
potential threat to the peace, security and safety of the people of a state,
then collect exaggerated stories and jaundiced perspectives from familiar
propagandists and character assassins, and promptly summon the media to a
“state of the nation” address.
“It’s an embarrassment to his
throng of admirers and followers, that a sage of Prof. Soyinka’s status, who
used to be a gauge of public morality in this nation, would lend himself to a
propaganda of high drive, to save a governor who elected to launch into a river
without applicable survival skills.”
Pointing out that Mr.
Soyinka’s strategy to attract public sympathy to the “clear underdog” was to
attack President Jonathan, and by so doing drag down anyone associated with
him, saying the writer was only fuelling the crisis with his claim that she was
Governor Amaechi’s problem in Rivers State.
The Presidency, which also
reacted to Mr Soyinka’s allegation that the Presdent was stoking the fire in
the festering crisis by refusing to publicly condemn what is happenning in the
state, said Governor Amaechi should be held responsible for the fracas that
broke out in the state House of Assembly last Tuesday.
The Special Adviser to the
President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, was quoted by The Punch as saying
it was erroneous of Mr. Soyinka, and the opposition political parties to blame
the President and his wife for the crisis when the governor was the real
mastermind.
Describing President Jonathan
as the victim of Amaechi’s mischief, the presidential aide said the
disagreement between the state lawmakers would not have degenerated if the
governor did not ignore the state Commissioner of Police’s advice for him not
to go there.
Mr. Gulak alleged that it was
the presence of the governor at the Assembly that emboldened the Majority
Leader and other lawmakers loyal to him to beat up the anti-Amaechi lawmakers
as shown in the widely-circulated video of the mayhem.
“It is mischief to say that
the President is behind the crisis in Rivers State,” Mr Gulak said. “The
President cannot be part of the crisis in that state. He is a man of peace.“
He said the problem in Rivers
State was an internal wrangling within the administration and instigated by the
governor, adding that it was sad that the governor would physically drive to
the House of Assembly to partake in the crises.
“The fact is that in this
crisis in Rivers State, the governor should be held responsible because if he
did not go to the House of Assembly, those guys wouldn’t have been emboldened
to beat people up,” Mr. Gulak said, adding that the Rivers situation was not
the first time a state Assembly would be having crisis.
Citing the example of Adamawa
State, where the Assembly was shut down for about three months following a
crisis, the presidential aide said the governor of the state did not appear
physically at the scene of the crisis before it was resolved.
Urging all parties to abide by
the constitution, which provides for separation of power, as a way of resolving
the crisis, Mr. Gulak described Mr. Soyinka’s public comment on the crisis as a
statement made “out of ignorance.”
“Soyinka, without knowing the
fact, just went public to blame the President and his wife for what is
happening in the state. He is an elder statesman, I don’t want to take issues
with him, but I will say that he should be responsible.
“I am not aware of any plan to
impeach the governor, and the President is not aware either, even if there are
such plans. But what I know is that the House of Assembly intended to change
their leadership. Rightly or wrongly, they have a constitutional right to do it
if they have the majority.”
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