President Jonathan Denies Drinking Spree On birthday, Condemns Rumour Mongers

President Goodluck Jonathan has
described as fiction the story that he
fell ill in London after a “heavy birthday
party thrown to celebrate his 56th
birthday” at the Intercontinental Hotel.
The President’s special adviser on
media, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a press
statement today, expressed regrets
that despite the open admittance of
the president’s ill health in London,
some online organs went ahead to
make what he called ” scurrilous
distortions of the facts of the
President’s indisposition”.
“The truth”, said Abati, ” 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”.
The statement accused Sahara
Reporters and “some other reckless,
lawless, impudent and unpatriotic
internet-based media of cooking up the
” entirely fictional, malicious, hate-
driven and scurrilous distortion of the
facts of the President’s indisposition.
The statement does not rule out legal
action against the peddlers of the false
report.
“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.
Abati however said that the President
took solace in “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.”
He expressed Jonathan’s gratitude to
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.”
But the statement condemned “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.”