With accusation and counter accusation on the failure of the last administration to tackle corruption in the country coming from Chief Edwin Clark and Dr Reuben Abati the latest news in the country, it is indeed time to examine the records of Abati during his reign as the Senior Special Assistant to ex President Goodluck Jonathan on Media and Publicity. It is important to note that this position invariably made Abati the person responsible for the ex president's public image and hence one of the most influential person's in the last administration.

Reuben Abati before his appointment was a die hard critic of the administration as an editor for the Guardian newspaper. It was surprising that having written unpleasant editorials about the president, he quickly accepted his appointment and made a rather strange U-turn. In a bid to impress his pay master, Abati also caused so much controversies that dearly hurt the Jonathan ' s administration .
It got so bad that at a point the Presidency to his rescue when it reached an out of court settlement with the then General Muhammadu Buhari, after it filed a court case against Abati and the Guardian at the Lagos High Court Ikeja, for claiming in a Guardian publication that General Buhari made an unguarded statement which stirred the 2011 post - election violence .

It is on record that while enjoying the grace of been in power, Abati suddenly became unreachable to all his friends and fellow journalists. This denied him the invaluable opportunity to liase with both his principal (Presidency) and the public/media; rather preferring to change his communication channels and mobile numbers. This effectively rubbed him of the opportunity to understand the reality on ground having been elevated from critic to an influential member of the government ; this also not only isolated him further but made him so overzealous and desperate that he defended the indefensible. His body language, statement and tone in defending certain anti-people policies of his pay master also made it clear he was rubber stamping his pay master's leadership and governance ineffectiveness; thus taking the heat for Jonathan ' s inexcusable kleptocracy. It is also on record that Abati dismissed all opinions of Nigerian's on critical matters of governance, hence going beyond the borders of custom and traditional morality. His attitude was like that of a man possessed by the money bag, thus abandoning the principles and philosophies which earlier brought him so much fame and honour.

In summary Reuben Abati had his chance to write his name in gold but he chose the money bag. He has to therefore cease to talk on any national issue bothering on governance and leadership . Nigerian's can't be more excited to see him and his pay master kicked out of office ; the only advice for him is to forever remain silent or keep being reminded how stained his records are as of present.

Culled from Mailtelegraph.

Source - https:// mailtelegraph./2015/11/15/reuben-abati-from-a-critic-to-money-bag/

Let me go read and come back to comment.

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This guy really shocked me, not the Abati i knew back then......

it's easy to criticise
but truth is most of us( I'm not sure I would be able to resist in my broke state) would take the money same as him
all this grammar you're spewing Will not pay his chudren school fees and vacation to Dubai and America and UK etc

I remember a similar scenario with one of the journalist-turned ministers back then.

He was a critic of government not until he was appointed a minister by the same government.

When his colleagues met him at a government organized dinner and asked him some questions pertaining corruption in the government, his answer "you don't talk while eating".

My people, let's call a spade a spade, money get power pass even Obama sef.