Nigeria: Turai Angry With Jonathan

Daily Champion| Saturday, 17 April 2010|

Lagos — The gulf between the camp of President Umaru Yar’Adua and that of the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, appeared to have widened yesterday, as Daily Champion gathered that the first Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua is not happy with Jonathan.

It will be recalled that Jonathan who returned to Nigeria yesterday after a four-day official visit to the United States (US) had in an interview with the Cable Network News (CNN) said the family of Yar’Adua was preventing him from seeing the sick President, even as he insisted that he would not force himself to see Yar’Adua.

Jonathan said the last time he saw Yar’Adua was on November 26, 2009.

“I have not seen him…the thinking of the family is that they should isolate him from most of the key actors in government. I have not seen him. The Senate President has not seen him …and at every single government function, I have not seen him…but we cannot influence his family’s thinking.”

However, a reliable source in the Presidency told Daily Champion that the statement by Jonathan infuriated the First Lady and the family. The source said: “As I am talking to you now, the family of Yar’Adua is not happy with the Acting President. He has met with Turai on a number of occasions and he knows the issues at stake. When he wanted to visit the President was not the appropriate time. And since then, he has made no effort no effort again. It is unfortunate that he decided to go the US to play to the gallery and to heap all the blames on the family.

“He has merely succeeded in widening the gap in the relationship between the two leaders and I can tell you that Yar’Adua’s family is beginning to feel that all his actions since the President left for Saudi Arabia were deliberate and they were intended to wrestle the Presidency from Yar’Adua. This latest outburst is unfortunate,” our source added.

Meanwhile, Jonathan returned to the country yesterday even as the Presidency said the visit to US was significant that the country engages with outside world.

The acting president arrived at 10.30 am and was received at arrival by top government functionaries led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ahmed Yayale.

Others at the airport to welcome the acting president were the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze, and Minister of Interior Emmanuel Iheanacho amongst others.

The visit according to the presidency has also been described as a success and very important for the country.

The US trip was at the instance of the US president, Barack Obama.

While in US, the acting president participated in the international Nuclear Security Summit, had a one on one discussion with President Obama, lunch with the US vice president, Joe Biden, also held discussion with the President of the World Bank, at the World Bank Building, in Washington DC, and also spoke as a guest at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), in Washington DC.

Speaking at arrival, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Odien Ajumogobia said: “It was a very successful visit and I think it is important that Nigeria engages with the world again and I think we did so in a very open and successful way.”

He said the meeting between Jonathan and Obama was very important as it shows the goodwill Nigeria enjoys outside the country.

“The meeting between President Obama and the acting president was very successful and I think it is very important, there is a lot of goodwill, enormous goodwill for Nigeria outside Nigeria,” the minister said.

He said the administration will do everything possible to “take advantage of that goodwill, for the betterment of Nigeria.”