Sambo said that he did not prevent El-Rufai from speaking at the occasion, pointing out that it was indeed, the late Yakowa’s family which organised the event, single-handedly, that did not want him to speak.
His reaction was contained in a statement by his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Umar Sani, who described El-Rufai’s allegation as the ‘’rantings of an accidental politician’’ to attract attention to himself.
Sani’s statement entitled, ‘’the cacophony of an accidental civil servant,’’read, in part, ‘’The venue of the one year anniversary lecture in commemoration of the former governor of Kaduna State, late Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa provided a platform for Mallam El-Rufai to once again renew his usual verbal vituperations against the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan; specifically directed at the Vice President, Namadi Sambo.
‘’The erstwhile minister of the FCT brazenly accused the VP of barring him from praising late Yakowa. We are constrained to respond to the allegation not minding the motive but to set the records straight. The lecture was exclusively organised by the late Yakowa’s family including inviting those to present papers and speak on the occasion.
The family alone compiled the programme of events, printed and circulated same at the venue. All those who were billed to speak at the event and whose names were contained in the programme spoke.
‘’For someone who was invited by the family to speak, one wonders why his name was conspicuously missing from the programme? Why would the presence of the Vice President generate any problem for him? Was he not aware that the Vice President was a special gu est and was billed to speak at the event which was widely advertised in our national dailies?
‘’If he was desirous to raise some fundamental questions on the present happenings in the state, was the memorial lecture of Yakowa the only avenue or platform for him to do so? As a concerned Nigerian, does he not have other avenues to air his views on the happenings in the state?
‘’We believe that this is the cacophony and the ranting of an accidental politician who savours the joy of echoing direction-less vituperations at responsible citizens. We believe the idea was to embark on a wild goose chase aiming to attack the Presidency for political expediency. Succinctly put, we hasten to say that no such thing happened at all.
We use this opportunity to call on Mr President to disregard the comments of El-Rufai as it was done in bad faith, as a publicity stunt to attract attention to a non-issue and score cheap political points.’’
Source: Vanguard
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