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<\/a><\/div>\nThe Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as a belated attempt at damage control the presidency\u2019s<\/span>
decision to show on<\/span>the NTA the video clip of President Goodluck Jonathan\u2019s visit to his wife in Germany,<\/span> <\/p>\nsaying the video has<\/span>not addressed the demand for full disclosure on the First Lady\u2019s seven-week disappearance.<\/span><\/div>\nIn a statement issued in Lagos today by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party<\/span><\/div>\nsaid the comments attributed to presidential spokesman Reuben Abati concerning the video also shows that the<\/span><\/div>\npresidency either<\/span>does<\/span>not understand the issues at stake, or is deliberately playing the ostrich.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201dLet\u2019s be clear, there is nothing to be ashamed of in someone been sick since we are all human and anyone can fall<\/span><\/div>\nill at any time. In particular, people occupying the public space, including the First Lady, who take ill deserve nothing<\/span><\/div>\nbut our<\/span>prayers and sympathy.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201dHowever, where information about such persons are with-held or deliberately distorted, people tend to shift their focus<\/span><\/div>\nto unravelling the truth about the situation, which is the case with our First Lady,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/div>\nACN described as a shocking irony the fact that President Jonathan, who is aware that the poor<\/span>management of information<\/span><\/div>\nover the illness of his predecessor, Pres. Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua, contributed to the erosion of public sympathy for the late<\/span><\/div>\nPresident<\/span>and instead swung it in favour of his then Vice President (Jonathan), would make the same mistake by hoarding<\/span><\/div>\ninformation on the sickness of his wife.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201dIt is a shame that people just do not learn from the past.<\/span>Irrespective of the cheeky and unprofessional comments by the<\/span><\/div>\npresidential spokesman, that the video has put paid to<\/span>all the lies that people who play politics with almost everything have<\/span><\/div>\nbeen spreading, the indisputable fact, going by available<\/span>information, is that the First Lady indeed took ill and was flown to<\/span><\/div>\nGermany for treatment.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201dHad the information managers at the presidency lived up to their billing, there would have been a full disclosure immediately<\/span><\/div>\nthe First Lady fell ill, and instead of the unnecessary controversy over her whereabouts, the good people of Nigeria would have<\/span><\/div>\noffered prayers<\/span>in torrents for the First Lady and her family.<\/span><\/div>\n\u201dNow making it look like the First Lady went to Germany on holiday \u2018to rest\u2019 or she is on a pilgrimage of sorts when indeed she is<\/span><\/div>\nrecuperating from an illness<\/span>is another testimony to the increasingly legendary incompetence and cluelessness that permeate this<\/span><\/div>\npresidency, and we expect<\/span>all those involved in this amateurish attempt at cover-up to be ashamed of themselves, instead of<\/span><\/div>\nengaging in empty bravado and<\/span>pointing fingers at imaginary enemies<\/span>,\u201d<\/span>the<\/span>party said.<\/span><\/div>\n
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