PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s office on Wednesday reacted to a story by an Abuja-based publication, Leadership newspaper, saying that the news report “calls for concern among all stakeholders and citizens of this great country. “
Denying that the Mr. Jonathan’s office had anything to do with the publication, the State House said in a statement that it was “shameful” that a leading publication would use its stables to publish what the president’s office sees as fallacious.
Signed by Dr. Doyin Okupe, the president’s special assistant on publicity, the statement rejected “unequivocally” the charge that the president’s office was responsible for the release of the document attributed to the office, saying it is nothing short of a forgery.
“We wish to state unequivocally that the document published in the Newspaper alleging that the presidency has issued directives to frustrate merger of some political parties, hound opposition leaders and increase price of petroleum products is a forgery and an amateurish one for that matter,” the statement said.
“It is shameful that the Leadership newspaper will descend so low to publish an item which falls short of every standard official communication in form and content and attribute same to the highest office in the land,” it added, pointing out that a “close scrutiny” will reveal that the later was fake.
As proof that the document was not from the president’s office, it pointed out that:
“1. No Letter Head in the presidency has the caption “Presidential Directive” under the Coat of Arms
“2. Contrary to communication practice in the Presidency, the said “directive” does not contain a recipient whether an individual, group or officials.
“3. The unsigned document is riddled with serious grammatical errors that could definitely not have emanated from the office of the President of Nigeria.
“4. The body of the document contains a number of inconsistencies and incongruities which every discerning person should be able to pick out. For example, items 5 and 6 in the 7- paragraph document does not contain any directive and are mere statements made by the dubious author. “
The statement singled out the editorial board at Leadership for failing in its responsibilities at observing what the president’s office called “incongruities, libelous distortions and other evidence of falsehood which they have published as a directive from the Presidency.”
Opposition politicians and their parties were also warned to show better judgment when they encounter releases that are purportedly from the presidency, saying political leaders who do otherwise are “gullible, undiscerning and lacking in capacity for deep thinking.”
“If people with dubious tactics and strategy are the caliber of people angling to govern Nigeria, then as a Nation we must intensify our prayers.
“We have said it before and will say it again that the coming together of any political parties or associations is of no concern to President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of these groups should stop running helter skelter when no one is chasing them neither should they seek for scape goats in the Presidency for their own self inflicted inadequacies.
“We wish to reiterate the need for journalists to uphold high ethical standards in reportage and commentaries. It is unfortunate that some Media practitioners are taking the liberal democratic atmosphere in the country for granted through a deliberate abuse of press freedom and the publication of false and malicious news items with the intent of causing confusion and ill feelings among the citizenry. This is irresponsible, unprofessional and definitely subversive.”