EMBARRASSING: Jonathan Miss Speech Slot At AU Meeting?

President Goodluck Jonathan today missed the opportunity to give a speech at the ongoing Special Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU).

Two members of President Jonathan’s delegation spoke to SaharaReporters from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia which also serves as the secretariat of the AU. They reported that there was confusion among delegates as well as embarrassment on the part of Nigerian officials when Mr. Jonathan failed to show up in the hall to deliver his speech.

Mr. Jonathan’s “no-show” reportedly set tongues wagging as delegates from other African nations asked confused Nigerian officials why their president did not appear to address the AU on an occasion as important as this year’s assembly. The AU was inaugurated 50 years ago and known for many years as the Organization of African Unity (OAU). In the 1970s and 1980s, Nigeria was one of the organization’s most dynamic members, using international diplomacy as well as funds to push for the liberation of Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
 
Our sources offered conflicting accounts of Mr. Jonathan’s whereabouts. One Nigerian source said he heard that Mr. Jonathan had gone to the toilet when he was called. He added that a presidential insider later said Mr. Jonathan was having a bilateral meeting with a head of state from another African country.

But another source scoffed at both excuses. “If the president was in the toilet, his aides should have informed the protocol at the summit to delay in calling him to speak. And if the president wanted to hold a bilateral meeting, why should he fix it during the time he was told he would address the assembly??” He added that somebody within Mr. Jonathan’s inner circle disclosed that the Nigerian president had stayed up till late eating and drinking with members of his inner circle. Mr. Jonathan also reportedly spent a long time consulting with some of his governor associates back in Nigeria about ways to push back against the Nigerian Governors Forum that yesterday elected Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as their chairman. Mr. Jonathan, who has had a long-running political feud with Governor Amaechi, had backed Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State for the post of chairman of the governors’ group. Mr. Jang’s defeat rattled the president, several sources told SaharaReporters yesterday.

“Mr. President was up very, very late. But he had been up that late at night and still woke up in time to honor his appointments,” the source said. “But today, he did not seem to realize that addressing the assembly was an important obligation.”

Our two main sources said they and other Nigerian diplomats were shocked and embarrassed when Mr. Jonathan’s name was called to give his speech but the Nigerian head of state was nowhere to be found. “The official summit announcer called Mr. President a few more times, and then the program went ahead to another speaker,” said one source.
 
Mr. Jonathan later showed up to join in the photo-op session at the meeting and disappeared shortly afterwards without offering any explanation for his absence when it was his turn to speak.

Among those at the AU’s assembly were President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as well as former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Source: Sahara Reporters

UPDATE: Why Jonathan missed his speech - Presidency

President Goodluck Jonathan missed his speaking slot at the ongoing African Union Summit in Addis Ababa because he was attending a smaller meeting on the sidelines of the event, the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Reuben Abati, has said.

“Mr. President was attending on the sidelines of the AU event, at the time Nigeria was called,” Mr. Abati said in a statement sourced from his website. “It was a meeting on Infrastructure in West Africa.”

The presidential spokesperson did however not explain why his boss preferred to attend a smaller event on the side even when the Nigerian delegation was fully aware of the speaking schedule for heads of state at the meeting.

Critics believe Mr. Jonathan’s action terribly embarrassed Nigeria before the comity of nations and showcased the country’s wobbling diplomacy under this president.

But Mr. Abati insists there was nothing wrong in the President’s sudden disappearance at a key moment that offered him an opportunity to sell Nigeria as one of Africa’s most important economic, political and military powerhouses.

“There is nothing amiss here; President Jonathan was perfectly in order. He did not abandon his duty post,” the spokesperson said.

“It is perfectly normal for Presidents to meet on the sidelines of any international meeting, and as the AU plenary went on yesterday, many Presidents stepped out to hold bilateral meetings, and return to the hall”.

He continued, “Where they are listed to make a statement in a plenary session and as happened in our case, the President had gone to attend a meeting on the sidelines, the Minister sitting in for the President can ask for a different slot to enable his Principal return to the hall to make the statement.

“Where he does not do this, he may opt to present the country’s statement. Yesterday, it was not only Amb. Gbenga Ashiru who presented the country statement on behalf of their principals.

“The President was in fact busy at work on behalf of Nigerians’. I see the mischief that has suddenly erupted around this matter as a classic case of much ado about nothing. President Jonathan is an accomplished diplomat; under his watch, Nigeria’s relationship with other countries has continued to grow strong. We are witnessing under this administration, a truly golden and glorious moment in Nigeria’s foreign policy process, an achievement which President Jonathan cherishes.

Source: Premium Times

UPDATE: It was Amaechi's fault?

Several diplomats at  the 50th anniversary summit of the OAU in Addis Ababa have confirmed to SaharaReporters that the Nigerian president was too irate and inebriated to go and address the meeting yesterday.

Saharareporters had revealed yesterday the Mr. Jonathan failed to show up when it was his turn to address  a summit African heads of states who met in Addis Ababa starting  midweek.

Several sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan was so infuriated over the outcome of an election by the Nigerian Governors's Forum that he drank himself to a stupor.

 "Mr. President made several calls to Governor  Godswill Akpabio rebuking him for allowing the elections to take place even when it was clear that the president's candidate Governor Jonahn Jang was likely to lose", says one of our sources.

The account of what led Jonathan's failure to deliver his speech  contradicted an explanation offered by President Jonathan's spokesman, Reuben Abati.
 
Mr. Abati contacted several media organizations  yesterday to claim that President Jonathan was engaged with a small meeting on "West Africa Infrastructure" at the time that he was supposed to give the speech.

One of sources indicated that Mr. Jonathan indeed had a problem with Diarrhoea, adding that the ailment was a direct result of the president's excessive drinking to the wee hours the night before.
 
A Nigerian who was present in the hall also disclosed that Mr. Jonathan look unsteady when he eventually returned for a photo-op with other African leaders.

Mr. Jonathan is known to have an intestinal disorder referred to as 'Amoebic Colitis'. Last February he underwent testing at the London Clinic on Harley Street to check up on the disease.

Source: Sahara Reporters