by Akan Ido

The Presidency today denied reports by sections of the online media that President Goodluck Jonathan who took ill while on an investment drive in London, United Kingdom had partied all through his birthday celebration.

In a statement signed by Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, the Presidency decried the story describing it as “utterly irresponsible, deplorable, highly unprofessional”.

According to Abati, “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,” he added.

Read the full statement below:

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan thanks all patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians, including his supporters, friends and political associates who expressed and conveyed their sympathies and solidarity with him, through various means, following the announcement of his sudden indisposition while on a mission to attract greater investments to accelerate the growth of the Nigerian economy in keeping with his agenda for national transformation.

The Presidency also commends the generality of the mainstream media whose coverage of the President’s slight health challenge in London was mostly factual, objective, fair-minded and supportive.

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, in compliance 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 willful 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 Presidency will like to reiterate the trite point that no human being is beyond health challenges irrespective of their station in life. Sadly, this commonplace fact appears to be beyond the understanding of the publishers of Sahara Reporters who seem to have lost all sense of propriety, decency and human compassion.

The President is comforted by the prayers, support and overwhelming goodwill of the people of Nigeria, fully assured that the forces of good will continue to triumph over the forces of darkness in our land.