ABATI, JONATHAN’S MEDIA AIDE, RETURNS TO SCHOOL

DR. Reuben Abati, the former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has decided to sharpen his brain a little bit after his sojourn in politics by returning to class.
He has now moved to Oxford, London, for further studies on Advanced Management and Leadership.
Here is what he has to say for himself: “I get tons of positive messages with common questions like ‘Where are you? What are you doing Dr. Reuben Abati?’
“I’ve been participating in the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme of the Oxford University’s Said Business School since the 7th of June.
“I had a great time discussing Nigerian Politics with my boss and former President Jonathan in London over the weekend. Thanks for your encouraging messages and concern. God bless you and ‪#‎Nigeria‬.‪#‎NewBeginnings‬ ‪#‎LifelongLearner‬ ‪#‎StayPosted‬“

NIGERIANS KNOW THAT JONATHAN HAS PERFORMED, SAYS ABATI

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, on Sunday said despite the criticisms being directed at President Goodluck Jonathan, majority of Nigerians are aware that the Federal Government under his watch has performed creditably well.
Abati made his position known in an interview he granted the Voice of America.
He said it was on record that the government had turned the nation’s economy into the largest one in Africa.
“A majority of Nigerians know that this is a government that has performed, that has turned the Nigerian economy into the largest economy in Africa.
“This is the government that has revived the railways, this is the government that has achieved a lot in terms of privatising the power sector and giving real hope about the power sector,” Abati said.

REUBEN ABATI’S BLASTS GEJ’S CRITICS

• We’re expecting Tinubu, El-Rufai, their godfathers to join Jonathan
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, defends the commander-in-chief President Jonathan, blasts the opposition party – APC, and addresses reports that the government is not doing anything to end insecurity
Read excerpts;
On going cold after joining the government: “This is an old question. I have responded to this question so many times. I don’t owe anybody an apology. It was my decision to take, to work for government, and in particular to work for President Goodluck Jonathan because I believe in him and I admire him. And having taken that decision, I am not going to spend my time apologising to people because as an individual, I have the right to make a choice.

PRESIDENCY DISOWNS AUSTRALIAN BOKO HARAM NEGOTIATOR

THE Presidency has nothing to do with Dr Stephen Davis, the Australian who was reported to be negotiating with Boko Haram insurgents to free the over 200 girls the terrorists abducted in Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State on April 14.
This is according to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who denied government’s knowledge of the negotiation when the Nigerian Tribune sought to confirm the authenticity of the claims made by Dr Davis, published in the United Kingdom-based MailOnline.
Abati pointed out that the Defence Headquarters had already distanced the military from the purported negotiation, saying that the position of the presidency could not be different from the military because “the military is directly responsible for the operation and takes instructions from the president.”

JONATHAN PRESIDENCY IS THE FIRST INTERNET AGE PRESIDENCY NIGERIANS HAVE HAD – ABATI

 Reuben Abati earned a first class degree from the University of Calabar, a cerebral writer he is also the recipient of several awards. Amongst them is the Cecil King Memorial Prize for the Print Journalist of the year, 1998; Fletcher Challenge Newspaper Commonwealth Prize for Opinion Writing, 2000, and four times winner of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence in Informed Commentary. For several years he penned informed commentaries for The Guardian Newspaper, which in turn affected national policies. He personified the motto of the Guardian newspaper which says that conscience is an open wound that can only be healed by truth. He has been criticised for abandoning his ideals and joining the government. In this edition of Conversations with Abang Mercy, Abati opens up on why he accepted the appointment and other issues of national importance.

MOST OF MY CRITICS HANG AROUND GOVERNMENT LOOKING FOR FAVOURS – ABATI

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, has been roundly criticised for working for a government that he has been critical of as a newspaper columnist. He clears air on some of the controversial statements credited to him in this interview 
You used to be critical of the Federal Government but that has changed, what happened?

LAI MOHAMMED’S PUBLIC DISINFORMATION TACTICS BY REUBEN ABATI

In a previous press statement, we had pointed out that a well organized campaign by the opposition designed to mislead the public, discredit the person and office of President Goodluck Jonathan, and cause disaffection within the polity appears to be well afoot. That there is an emerging pattern of disinformation and politics by trickery, orchestrated by Lai Mohammed and his ilk which is unsuitable to our democratic experience is now no longer in doubt.

We have been proven right, once more, with the deliberate disinformation engaged in today by the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

PARDON RESTORES ALAMIESEYEGHA’S ‘CORPORAL RIGHTS’ - ABATI

Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, yesterday explained on Channels Television how President Jonathan granted former Bayelsa State Governor Alamieseyeigha state pardon last Tuesday. Excerpts:

“The first thing is that there’s been a lot of ignorance about what has happened. And sophisticated ignorance, but I respect the fact that part of our duties is to continue to explain to people. The first thing to note is what state pardon is not. One, a state pardon does not mean that an individual was not convicted at a particular time. In fact, a state pardon means that you have been convicted for a particular crime, you have been punished, then within the view of the constitution means a forgiveness of what you have done, and an opportunity to give you a chance to be reformed to reintegrate back into society.

JONATHAN ORDERS RESCUE OF KIDNAPPED FOREIGN WORKERS

President Jonathan, Monday, has ordered security agencies in th country to rescue the kidnapped foreign workers.

THE HYPOCRISY OF YESTERDAY’S MEN BY DR. REUBEN ABATI

A loosely bound group of yesterday’s men and women seems to be on the offensive against the Jonathan administration. They pick issues with virtually every effort of the administration, pretending to do so in the public interest; positing that they alone, know it all. Arrogantly, they claim to be better and smarter than everyone else in the current government. They are ever so censorious, contrarian and supercilious. They have no original claim to their pretensions other than they were privileged to have been in the corridors of power once upon a time in their lives. They obviously got so engrossed with their own sense of importance they began to imagine themselves indispensable to Nigeria.  It is dangerous to have such a navel-gazing, narcissistic group inflict themselves with so much ferocity on an otherwise impressionable public. We are in reality dealing with a bunch of hypocrites.