Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, Monday said former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar had full access to President Goodluck Jonathan by virtue of his association and the office he held as a former Nigeria’s number two citizens.
Ogiadomhe, while reacting to a report that a presidential official once blocked a meeting between Jonathan and Atiku, said it was not true.
According to him, Atiku has unfettered access to the president and the presidency and he has never been blocked from seeing Jonathan or any presidency official.
The report had alleged that initial efforts to broke peace following the formation of the splinter group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the party’s special national congress in August were stalled by the presidency official.
The official was said to have made the president, who had met with some chieftains of the New PDP, including Atiku and the seven governors in the faction, as part of the reconciliation process to believe that Atiku was not available for a meeting with Jonathan, after the former vice-president had been informed that the president would visit him and he was waiting to receive him.
Atiku was said to have cancelled a scheduled overseas engagement and waited for two hours for the president’s visit without Jonathan allegedly not showing up.
But Ogiadomhe said no presidential aide could have done anything to deny Atiku access to the president.