President Jonathan Admits He Did Not Speak With King Of Morocco

President Goodluck Jonathan did not speak with King Mohammed VI of Morocco after all, the presidency admitted today, attributing the brouhaha to “misinformation”.

A State House statement described the Nigeria leader as “shocked, surprised and highly embarrassed” by the controversy over the telephone conversation with His Majesty, that wasn’t.

It disclosed that President Jonathan has ordered an investigation, and that “prompt and commensurate disciplinary action” would be taken against the culpable person or persons.

Last Sunday, the Morocco’s Foreign denied claims by its Nigeria counterpart that Jonathan had had phone conversation with King Mohammed VI.

Nigeria had said in its statement: "This information is absolutely not correct as the president did in fact speak to the Moroccan monarch... both leaders spoke extensively over the phone on matters of mutual interest and concern." 

Responding in the "clearest and strongest terms," Morocco denied there had been a phone conversation between both leaders, and said the king declined the request of the Nigerian government because it was trying to use the king in the ongoing election campaign.

"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," that statement said, also announcing Morocco had recalled its ambassador from Nigeria.

In the statement, Nigeria presidential spokesman Reuben Abati  said, “The regrettable furore that has developed over the matter is due entirely to misinformation as President Jonathan has neither spoken with King Mohammed or told anybody that he had a telephone conversation with the Moroccan Monarch.”

He explained that President Jonathan has been speaking with some African leaders to seek their support for Nigeria’s candidate for the position of President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), in connection with which he indicated that he would like to speak with the King of Morocco, the President of Algeria and the President of Egypt.

“Since that directive was given, President Jonathan has spoken with the Prime Minister of Algeria and subsequently sent Vice President Namadi Sambo to Algiers as Special Envoy to follow-up on his discussions with the Algerian Prime Minister on support for Nigeria’s candidate in the coming elections for the AfDB Presidency.”

He confirmed that Mr. Jonathan has, however, not yet spoken with King Mohammed VI and President Al-Sisi of Egypt, a fact which he said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ought to know.

“President Jonathan has therefore ordered the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali to urgently undertake a full investigation of the claim which emanated from the Ministry that the President spoke with King Mohammed VI.

“The investigation is to identify all those who were responsible for the unacceptable act of official misinformation which has resulted in an unnecessary diplomatic row with another country and national embarrassment,” the statement said, adding that it would “unveil the motives of the culprits.”

According to Mr. Abati, “While awaiting the outcome of the investigations, President Jonathan urges Nigerians to disregard the vituperations of opposition elements, who have, true to type, latched on to the regrettable faux pas as a fresh opportunity to unpatriotically denigrate the government of their country and advance their irresponsible quest for victory at any price in the coming elections.”

In a statement today, the All Progressives Congress (APC) called on President J‎onathan to apologize to Nigerians for the embarrassment he has caused the nation over his phantom phone conversation with the King.

“In our earlier statement on the issue, we gave President Jonathan the benefit of the doubt by asking him to clarify what happened, just as the Moroccan King has done,” spokesperson Lai Mohammed said in Lagos.

“Instead, a loquacious spokesman for the President decided to abuse us instead of addressing the issues,” APC said, accusing the administration of ignoring the message to attack the messenger.  “That tells us that, indeed, these people have something to hide over the phoney phone conversation.”