The presidency has denied reports that the recent appointment of Dr Doyin Okupe as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs has led to a conflict between him and the the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati.
Dr Reuben Abati who convened the meeting to introduce Dr Okupe to State House correspondents, affirmatively declared that there is no conflict between his office and that of the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, stating that Dr. Doyin Okupe was hired to complement him in engaging the public coherently.
Briefing State House correspondents on their positions on Tuesday, Dr Abati and Dr Okupe jointly declared that there is no conflict in the information management process in the presidency, as speculated by some media reports.
Acoording to Dr Okupe, “the position of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs is not in any way conflicting with the job of the Special Adviser to the President. The Special Adviser to the President remains the presidential spokesman. All official policies and statements emanating from the President are released through him. Anything that is official, which has to do with what the President has spoken, will be spoken of by Dr. Reuben Abati. My job is public affairs” explained the new appointee.
Dr Abati also explained that the former Minister of Information is joining the team with a lot of confidence in the Jonathan project. “One thing we both have in common is that we both have a passion for the Jonathan’s transformation agenda and we believe in President Jonathan that he deserves the support of all Nigerians and that as many people as possible should join hands together to promote that transformation agenda, to support this administration and our responsibility in terms of how this administration information process is managed is to make sure that we engage the public robustly and moving forward, our team remains very strong.”
The two appointees cheerfully debunked the report, noting that they rather would join hands to promote the transformation agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
