The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign organisation has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to apologise to Nigerians for the embarrassment his administration has caused his country following an avoidable diplomatic row with Morocco.
Addressing journalists at the party’s campaign headquarters on Monday, the Deputy Director-General of the campaign organisation, Senator Olorunibe Mamora, said the president’s belated admission that he never spoke to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI at any time didn’t go far enough to assuage the feelings of Nigerians.
“As the president, the buck stops at his desk and it was therefore inappropriate for the president to dismiss a serious diplomatic gaffe with levity and blame some poor, anonymous civil servants for the row. He should just own up, apologise and stop lying, not only [about] this but on several others on which they are culpable. A word is enough for the wise,” Mamora said, adding: “Let me state that we in the APC are outraged and embarrassed beyond words that the Jonathan government can elevate lying as a state policy. The false claim that President Jonathan spoke to Moroccan King Mohammed V1 when no such telephone conversation ever took place has made Nigeria a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. It is yet another in the series of lying presidency.
“By our traditions and cultures, lying is not encouraged even among children. Why did President Jonathan have to wait until Morocco recalled its ambassador to Nigeria before he issued a clarification on the issue?”
Morocco withdrew its ambassador to Abuja after it emerged that President Jonathan, a Christian incumbent facing-off against a Muslim challenger in next week’s general election, falsely claimed to have chatted with the Morocco’s Muslim absolute monarch since 1999, King Mohammed VI, in an apparent ruse to curry favour with Nigeria’s Muslims ahead of the poll.
Morocco’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying King Mohammed declined to accept President Jonathan’s call; refusing to be used in Nigeria’s internal electioneering. This was a direct contradiction of an earlier statement from Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to rumours that Jonathan had been snubbed, which said the Nigerian leader “did in fact speak to the Moroccan monarch… both leaders spoke extensively over the phone on matters of mutual interest and concern.”
In fact, as Morocco’s statement went on to say in the “clearest and strongest terms (..) there has never been a phone conversation” between the two men.
The statement concluded: “The kingdom of Morocco expresses its astonishment and denunciation to these unethical practices that are contrary to the spirit of responsibility that must prevail in relations between states.”
