Sambo denies blocking El-Rufai from
speaking at memorial lecture.
The Vice President, Namadi Sambo,
and former Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, are
engaged in a war of words over the
alleged blockage of Mr. El-Rufai from
speaking at the memorial lecture
organised to mark the one year
anniversary of the late Governor of
Kaduna State, Patrick Yakowa.
Mr. El-Rufai told journalists recently
that the family of the late Governor
invited him to the remembrance
lecture but alleged that the presence
of Mr. Sambo made it impossible for
the former minister to speak.
However, Mr. Sambo, in a statement
by his spokesperson, Umar Sani, on
Tuesday, said that the former
minister was using the memorial
lecture as a platform to renew his
usual verbal vituperation against the
administration of President Goodluck
Jonathan, this time, specifically
directing them at the Vice President.
Mr. Sambo said he needed to respond
to the allegations raised by Mr. El-
Rufai to set the records straight. He
insisted that the lecture was
organised by the Yakowa family and
that all those who were billed to
speak, going by the programme,
spoke.
“For someone who was invited by the
family to speak, one wonders why
(Mr. El-Rufai’s) name was
conspicuously absent in the
programme. Why would the presence
of the Vice President generate any
problem for him? Was he not aware
that the Vice President was a Special
Guest and was billed to speak at the
event, which was widely advertised in
our national dailies,” Mr. Sani asked.
Mr. El-Rufai said he had wanted to
talk about developments in Kaduna
State, from where he and the Vice
President hail.
“My intention was to honour Yakowa
and raise fundamental issues
affecting the development of Kaduna
State presently. I was invited by
Yakowa’s family to attend the
memorial lecture, and I was billed to
speak there. But when Vice President
Sambo and the PDP national
chairman arrived, I knew there would
be problem,” Mr. El-Rufai said.
He also said that he had wanted to
raise questions on how the late
governor’s legacies were being
destroyed.
“My task was to eulogise Yakowa
and what he stood for, then raise
fundamental questions regarding
present situation of our state. Are
they really preserving Yakowa’s
legacies? What about local
government funds? The 23 local
government areas of the state are in
bondage; their finances are being
withheld and public funds are being
mismanaged. Was that what Yakowa
did? Absolutely no. This is why they
are afraid and they stopped me from
speaking but they cannot hide the
reality of our predicament,” he said.
The Vice President’s spokesperson, in
the his statement, asked if the
memorial lecture was the only
platform were Mr. El-Rufai could
have raised fundamental questions
on the current events in the state
“As a concerned Nigerian, does he
not have other avenues to air his
views on the happenings in the state?
We believe that this is the cacophony
and the ranting of an Accidental
Politician who savours the joy of
echoing directionless vituperations at
responsible citizens. We believe the
idea was to embark on a wild goose
chase aiming to attack the
Presidency for political expediency.
Succinctly put, we hasten to say that
no such thing happened at all,” Mr.
Sani said.
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/151788-vp-sambo-el-rufai-tangle-speaking-slot-yakowa-memorial-lecture.html

Another Episode of movie is Unfolding. I'll grab my seat and relax while I watch the whole drama. Hoping it turns out Interesting!

VP's spokesperson is mouthed! See english