Abati debunks myths about Goodluck's alcoholism saying former president was teetotal

FORMER president Dr Goodluck Jonathan's official spokesman Dr Reuben Abati has debunked the popular myth that his ex-boss was an alcoholic stating that Nigeria's immediate past leader is teetotal.

 

During his tenure in office, Dr Jonathan was rumoured to be regularly drunk and in at least two instances, he was said to have missed international engagements because he was in a stupor. In one famous instance, Dr Jonathan failed to deliver his address to the African Union at a summit in Addis Ababa and it was rumoured that this was because he was drunk and had passed out.

 

On another occasion, Dr Jonathan missed the first day of an investment summit in London and it was reported that he had been rushed to hospital to treat the effects of his alcoholism. Dismissing all this as hearsay, Dr Abati clarified that Dr Jonathan does not drink, adding that it’s only one of the myths about the last administration.

 

According to Dr Abati, he only saw Dr Jonathan drink a glass of wine during special occasions, explaining that the former president never had any episode of being drunk to stupor. He added that Dr Jonathan was a very humble man and committed to the Nigerian project, so all the myths surrounding him were made up.

 

Dr Abati said: “You see, that’s one of the myths about that administration and you must understand how this thing is, as it’s all about perception, communication and stereotyping. People just stereotype people from a particular part of the country as drunkards and they look for justification for one type of behaviour or the other.

 

“I can tell you that in my four years of working for President Jonathan, I never found him in a bibulous situation. If he ever tasted any drink, maybe a glass of wine during special occasions, so all those stories about him drinking, always being berated, about being bibulous situations inside the Villa, did not exist."

 

He pointed out that if one looks at the results of the last elections, Dr Jonathan lost with about 2.5m votes, indicating that a large number of Nigerians still believed in him and also believed in his ability and his capability of his administration to move Nigeria forward. Dr Abati added that despite the loss, the former president respected the will of the electorate.