He has received a lot of bashing lately.

Please itemize his misdemeanors one by one so we can judge him or is it because he agreed to serve his country under GEJ?

He was always critizing them when he was outside,i taught he could practice what he preached then.The present govt looks like one huge joke ,with know direction ,just sailing,know destination.How can Nigeria accept rebels as a legitimate government when its foreign policies are centered on Africa.Southafrica now leads and chairs meetings.

But i know he suffered bad press from online Nigerian reports.

He's GEJ's 'Spin Doctor', . . . , . . Like a propaganda machine.

The guy is just a mouth piece! What do you want him to do? Refuse taking orders from his employer?

Are you expecting a GOOD lawer to turm down a case of a murder suspect?  

olas2u:

He was always critizing them when he was outside,i taught he could practice what he preached then.The present govt looks like one huge joke ,with know direction ,just sailing,know destination.How can Nigeria accept rebels as a legitimate government when its foreign policies are centered on Africa.Southafrica now leads and shares meeting.

olas2u:

He was always critizing them when he was outside,i taught he could practice what he preached then.The present govt looks like one huge joke ,with know direction ,just sailing,know destination.How can Nigeria accept rebels as a legitimate government when its foreign policies are centered on Africa.Southafrica now leads and shares meeting.

whats the meaning of these?

werepeLeri:

whats the meaning of these?

I dont get you.

olas2u:

He was always critizing them when he was outside,i taught he could practice what he preached then.The present govt looks like one huge joke ,with know direction ,just sailing,know destination.How can Nigeria accept rebels as a legitimate government when its foreign policies are centered on Africa.Southafrica now leads and chairs meetings.

Where can one even begin answering this? Almost every word is either an outright falsehood, or is so off point its on a trajectory to Pluto.

Beaf:

Where can one even begin answering this? Almost every word is either an outright falsehood is so off point its on a trajectory to Pluto.

Okay then

It's always bad karma when a true journalist turns around to become a "government" appointee. Almost like selling oneself to the devil : he's losing the credibility he had as a respected journalist. And that's a lot to just throw away.

What earned him that post was his capacity to understand the issues related to different government's inefficiency,  and speaking against it. But he's saying one thing and now doing another thing. It's a huge shame on him.  He's EDITOR in chief, that's a good enough post to maintain your integrity without you or your family going hungry, he's worse than the politician who hired him.

Is like saying a Gani Fawehimi should become a puppet of the govt. I mean, that's the height of it,

I remember that his black monkey face on patito's gang far back 2000,  always looked forward to watching it,

I don't think the guys doing anything wrong, he s just doing his job. The problem is his boss so Abati is just collateral damage.

Nobody will be happy to throw away his hard earned integrity into the dustbin, just because of a position or money. No! Reuben abati is not pleased with the present Goverment, then he offered himself to serve the country, which is the best decision. Evil prevail because good men do nothing. If the good people of nigeria play a siddon look, just looking at situation of things and not contribute anything to salvage the nation, Nigeria will become worst. Let the good people of this country rise up,support and join the president to make nigeria better. Otherwise, if the good people keep on criticizing without making any effort to assist the Goverment, we will be the worst country. God bless you. God2man.

Since when did it become a criminal offence to serve one's country?

Nigerians have issues for real! 

Meanwhile offer any of them even the post of cleaner in Jonathan's office and see how they'll rush the job. Idiotts.

defending cluelessness

@God2Man: While i agree with you that good people should not sit down aloof while evil is being perpetrated, it is also important that intergrity is not thrown to the wind simply because you want to carry out your job. If you cannot influence the system positively, then going negative with false comments is not the solution.

Abati has always been a government apologist who criticised in order to be noticed. that fact was brought into the open when he alongside some other editors in Nigeria were exposed to have been allocated  plots of land in Abuja by the government of Umaru Yar'dua. So those who tell us that Abati went to serve in this government for reasons of patroitism should show us the difference, the improvement, the trasparency he brought so far into that office. Are we not still in the era of government propagandists defending the indefensible? After years of screaming about the nation's collapsing infrastructure, the Abati in the Villa seem to have simply gone dumb, obviously because the government of Mr Luck has done away with the cancer of zero infrastructure throughout the country.

only a teeny bopper with 0 knowledge of current affairs would ask such a dumb question.

for years reuben abati was a voice in the wilderness, fearlessly rebuking and pointing out the faults of numerous administrations, saying it like it was, calling them out on their hypocrisy, avarice, bullshit.

now it is clear to all of us that he was just biding his time for the juiciest offer

we have seen him do a 180 and defend and support government policies that will do nigeia no good. policies that as little as 9 months ago, he was criticizing

the funny thing is that if the gej govt collapses today, and abati releases his own tell all attempt at redemption, this same op will start calling for the mans head, in typical gej zombie fashion

They are intelligent, yet they cant answer a simple question. What does that make you? A du mb fool.

List his many misdemeanors one by one and let us see. You come here yearning dust.

@rhina.5dm

a good lawyer accepts the case of a murder suspect knowing that the suspect commited the crime.he accepts the case because it is his job.if he is able to get an acquittal of his murder suspect,his integrity is not tainted,rather his popularity as a lawyer soars because he has done the job he was trained to do.

Oga reuben has always been a gani fawehinmi in the making.i for one always believed he understood the problems and the changes that needed to be made.i remember when sahara reports broke the news of his appointment,he vehemently denied it and the claimed he was unaware when it was eventually made public.

His joining the government isnt a bad thing in itself,but the complete turnaround of his ideology smacks of hypocrisy.the same statements he always criticised are the ones he is now making,the "list of achievements" he criticised from yaradua,OBJ and clueless joe(in his first coming) was recently released and abati was nowhere to criticize it,rather he was the author.

When bola ige joined OBJ's cabinet,he didnt change his ideology to suit the powers,rather he brought his ideals into the way he performed his duties.it true we want good men in government,but its no use when those supposed good men get to office and seeing the enormity of the task before them,become one of "them"d of his ideology smacks of hypocrisy.the same statements he always criticised are the ones he is now making,the "list of achievements" he criticised from yaradua,OBJ and clueless joe(in his first coming) was recently released and abati was nowhere to criticize it,rather he was the author.

When bola ige joined OBJ's cabinet,he didnt change his ideology to suit the powers,rather he brought his ideals into the way he performed his duties.it true we want good men in government,but its no use when those supposed good men get to office and seeing the enormity of the task before them,become one of "them"

are these your personal opinions the reasons why he is being castigated?

To answer the question bluntly: FALSEHOOD!

i have nothing personal against him but i must confess that he has stopped using his brain ever since he joined this government. he is such a fantastic human being

God2man:

Nobody will be happy to throw away his hard earned integrity into the dustbin, just because of a position or money. No! Reuben abati is not pleased with the present Goverment, then he offered himself to serve the country, which is the best decision. Evil prevail because good men do nothing. If the good people of nigeria play a siddon look, just looking at situation of things and not contribute anything to salvage the nation, Nigeria will become worst. Let the good people of this country rise up,support and join the president to make nigeria better. Otherwise, if the good people keep on criticizing without making any effort to assist the Goverment, we will be the worst country. God bless you. God2man.

GBAM

Reuben Abati is simply trying to play be who he never was. He was once the voice of the masses. Now he is nothing but a propagator of falsehood and propaganda. It's like I wasted my time reading his column on the Guardian then

Some responses are reasonable, some are just plain meaningless. What has he done wrong, you cant say - except bla bla bla - he is saying things different from what he used to say before, like what?


Abeg - pray you get appointed as a cleaner in government instead of disparaging those who has found their way up there.

@werepe
na true u talk jooor.
if most people become close to GEJ or any top functionary, they are ready to use their tongue to clean their shoes.
who no like better things!

Some people here need to go back and dust their old editions of Guardian on Sun. Abati was more of a political analyst than "always criticising" as being postulated here. He commends govt when they do well and rebukes when there are shortcomings. Sonala Olumese is the critic.
@OP. Ur question is a good one. First there is this underlying impression that a journalist of his calibre shouldn't have accepted such a position from GEJ. He was slaughtered by his former colleagues for this. Yet the public forgot that Ruth Opia, Smart Adeyemi, Abike Dabiri, Olusegun Adeniyi, Dare Babarinsa, Funke Egbemode(she served the despicable Etteh) and a lot too numerous to mention were all journalist who are now holding/held position in govt at one time or other. The ques is if GEJ doesnt appoint a seasoned journalist in that position,then who? The sport ministry is comatose today because square pegs are being put in round holes. So on that score i've no problem with Abati.
The problem people have with Abati is that he's "too good" at his job. How can he say security of the nation has improved under GEJ? Haba! That's like saying the whole of Naija is deaf, dumb and blind(unholy trinity). I know that's what he's being paid for but that's taking falsehood too far.
In summary what Abati is going thru is what any presidential spokesman before him has gone thru .i.e envy from former colleagues and being forced to lie for your boss misdeeds.

his offence is being a turncoat,of talking from both sides of his mouth,by selling us a dummy,selling us the fact that he was a social critic in the end us finding out that his conscience was not worth the paper it was being written on,
if i go to market and i buy a tv,or a phone,i get home and i find it is all empty, of course i would be mad as hell,
Abati took us all for a joyride.
now we know a man who stands for nothing stands for everything,

who is Abati we ask ourselves now,were all his critiques,just words he said so he could be relevant?
he better gets enough bread that will last him a life time because by the time Jonah' s terms ends, he wont be able to hold his head in the arena of his peers,the universe gets rid of its trash,Abati u have become the universe's trash

@OP - you, a GEJ apologist, na you de they ask this stupid question, a question you already know the answer? People, ignore poster

ping pong:

@OP - you, a GEJ apologist, na you de they ask this silly question, a question you already know the answer? People, ignore poster

Thank God I am a GEJ apologist - and thank God people arent ignoring me.

LOL - you must be pained that I am a GEJ apologist? I dint come to you for feeding money, so, shove it down your throat if it is painful to you that I am a GEJ apologist. What will you do about it? Nada.