Breakfast With IBB: We Stand By Our Story. The Presidency has issued a formal reaction to Peoples Daily’s lead story of yesterday in which former military president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was reported to have rebuffed a request by President Jonathan to join him in his Hilltop residence in Minna for a Ramadan breakfast. In the story titled “Breakfast: IBB turns down Jonathan”, Peoples Daily reported that Jonathan had sought to join General Babangida for the breakfast as he reasoned it would be inappropriate for the Holy month of Ramadan to elapse without him showing the spirit of comradeship with the former military president. “The president (Jonathan) therefore sent word to IBB indicating he wanted to join the former leader for a breakfast with him in Minna”, a reliable source had told one of our reporters. Another source close to the former military president in Minna confirmed the Aso Rock’s request but disclosed that IBB was not comfortable with such visit, noting that it may be “misconstrued”, more so when the Niger state governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu would not be present at the breakfast meeting as he was out of the country. In the story, Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati was extensively quoted as denying any such scheduled breakfast between the president and General Babangida. “It’s not true. Whoever is telling you that story is just making it up”; Abati was quoted as saying in yesterday’s news report in Peoples Daily. The presidential spokesman, who had to make some checks before he phoned back to react to the story, said further that: “The President has not gone out of his residence to breakfast anywhere or with anybody since this Ramadan started. “Rather, since the holy month began, the President has been the one that receives people in the (Presidential) Villa to breakfast with him. He has been receiving different groups of people, all of who are residents here in the FCT”, he said. In addition, Peoples Daily, in yesterday’s reported quoted Abati as saying: “As you’re probably aware, the president is fasting. So, almost every other day different groups of people come to breakfast with him. And to the best of my knowledge, IBB’s name is not on the list of people lined up to join Mr. President in the Villa and have breakfast with him. “But to say that the president was the one to go to Minna and breakfast with the former president, that’s untrue”, he further said. But despite reflecting the Presidency’s position as highlighted by Abati in that lead story of yesterday by Peoples Daily, the presidential spokesperson yesterday issued a rebuttal in which he described the report as “arrant falsehood”. While reiterating his earlier position that President Jonathan never indicated any interest in visiting IBB at Minna during the current Ramadan, Abati alleged that the news report was “a further manifestation of a continuing effort to sow the seeds of discord in the polity”. People’s Daily.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 10:02:28 +0000
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