President Jonathan ill? Concern over his 'private visit' to London

President Jonathan ill? Concern over his 'private visit' to London

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 10:47 pm


File Photo: Jonathan on one of his trips to London

File Photo: Jonathan on one of his trips to London

Nigerians have expressed concerns over the reason for President Goodluck Jonathan’s private visit to London on Sunday.

In the absence of any official disclosure about the true nature of the visit, Nigerians have been posting all manner of speculations.

Some were of the view that the president went to pay a visit to jailed former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori.

Some others said he went for a quick medical check-up over a serious ailment, while yet others said the president took his children to boarding school in the UK to allow him concentrate on the coming general election in February.

A statement announcing the visit on Sunday signed by Dr. Reuben Abati simply said that the president was embarking on ‘’ a brief private visit to the United Kingdom”.

It also said the President was accompanied on the trip by some of his principal staff and personal aides, and that he would return on Monday, to prepare for scheduled audiences with ‘groups from Delta and Lagos’ on Tuesday.

It was not the first time that President Jonathan would leave Nigeria on a private visit, without full disclosure about where and who he visited and for what purpose.

On his way to the United Nations General Assembly session in New York in September, President Jonathan also stopped over in London for ‘a private visit’.

Again, there was no disclosure about where he disappeared into on reaching London.

In the latest visit, undisclosed number of aides accompanied the president.

As observers noted, the aides expectedly would be entitled to allowances and hotel accommodation while on the trip, thus changing the complexion of the visit, as the officials would be drawing money from the Nigerian treasury.

Even the President violates this boundary between private and official as he travelled to the UK in the official jet attached to his office as president, fuelled and maintained by the government of Nigeria.


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