Reuben Abati: No apology working President Jonathan

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati,had an in depth interview with the Nigerian Tribune where he addressed his very vital role in the government, and criticisms by former colleagues that he changed as soon as he became part of the GEJ administration .

How challenging has it been for you managing the president’s media affairs?

I am not complaining. I mean, every work has its own challenges. There is no work anybody would be engaged in and there would not be challenges. That, certainly, is not an issue. But if I may make effort to answer your question, I think one key observation in terms of what I have experienced on the job is the fact that you have to keep explaining things to people.
You have to keep reiterating issues all the time. You can’t put out a statement or explain an issue and assume that people already have accepted your position or that they understand or that your message has been communicated. So, this is a major challenge.
Often, you listen to people, they make some statements on television or they write articles in the newspapers and you feel embarrassed that these are issues you have already dealt with. On that particular issue, statements have been issued, the president’s speeches, statements and positionshave been distributed worldwide; the only thing this particular person making uninformed comments is required to do is to just go online and do a little homework. You know, these things are available online.  

Without trying to boast, I think this presidency has been very proactive in terms of trying to provide information, in terms of documenting the president’s activities, but you just see that some of the more vocal persons in the public domain refuse to pay attention. Either they refuse to listen or out of mischief, they just pretend not to notice or they just deliberately go out of their way to twist information.
And the bigger thing is not just people being deliberately uninformed; it is also about people being deliberately uncharitable, mischievous, mean.amazing and can be frustrating.

The challenge, therefore, is that you keep seeing these things and you just have to keep explaining, and clarifying, and pushing back, even when it is clear to everybody that it is the other party that is ignorant, unintelligent and mischievous.

On people saying he has changed from being critical of the government before his appointment 

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.

It was my choice to work for President Jonathan and to accept the position of his spokesperson and media adviser and I have absolutely no apology and I have seen that for me, it is a positive move because today, I consider myself much better informed, because I have been on both sides. I have lived the life of the outsider looking at government, governance and society from one observatory and I have also been inside and I can see how government functions.

I don’t think any form of apprenticeship in terms of exposure to public life can be higher than working with the president of a democratic country, working at the highest level of authority. It puts you in a vantage position to learn so much. If this was a course of study in which a certificate is awarded, I think I should be getting close to getting one, having taken so many course units and learning so much.

I am talking about apprenticeship in a serious sense, and the opportunity also to serve one’s country. I don’t think anybody can put that down by saying “you were once a social critic, you shouldn’t be here.” No. In fact, I will 

encourage so many other journalists and persons in other capacities to come into government and work for government. Why is it an issue that when a journalist works for government, people complain? There are doctors in government. There are engineers working for government, their colleagues have not carried placards. We all have a duty to play a role in the making of our country.

But of course, since I came here, I have seen many of those who criticised me ferociously - our own colleagues - hanging around and hustling for appointments and many of them have taken this or that position in government, much excitedly too. And when they land on this side, I say to them: ‘Ha, I thought you wrote an article the other day and published articles criticising Reuben Abati. You are on this side now too.’ I welcome them and I congratulate them. So, you see, I have no apologies whatsoever. I have no regrets also.

On perception that Boko Haram issue is not yet resolved  and there is no movement 

It will not be right to say that there is no movement. What people must realise is that the fight against terror is an unconventional kind of war and it is also something that is unusual in our environment. Even in other countries where they have had cases of terrorism, it is not something that was resolved overnight. If you go to Mexico, Colombia, they are still battling with the threat after so many years.
It took America 10 years to be able to track down Osama bin Laden. And the thing to understand about the nature of terrorism is that you are dealing with agents of evil, people who have resolved to wage war against humanity and human civilisation and they do not wear any uniform.
They strike at will and their identity is, for the most part, hidden. One thing we must all know is that in spite of the special challenge it poses in our environment, our security agents have been able to quickly develop a capacity to be able to address the challenge. There may be questions, but all of those questions will be dealt with, because primarily, there is political will to deal with the challenge and that is what is most critical.
What President Jonathan has pointed out is that the war against terrorism may be a long drawn out war, but no matter how long it takes, whatever it takes, the government is determined to win the war because the government is not going to allow people who want to pull down the country, who want to destroy other people’s lives to prevail. That is what the president has said, and he means every word of it.