Wali: Jonathan won’t apologise for Morocco row

Aminu Wali, the minister for foreign affairs, has exonerated President Goodluck Jonathan from the phony phone call row between Nigeria and Morocco, saying the president had nothing to do with it and therefore owes Nigerians no apology.

While fielding questions from newsmen after a meeting with the president and the security council in Abuja on Monday, the minister admitted that there was a mix up somewhere in his ministry.

“At this level of our diplomacy, a lot of things can happen. We are trying to find out, and I will like to say that the president has nothing to do with it,” he said.

“I have already taken action on the president’s directive and of course some people are trying to make this whole thing political. This is something that has happened and there is a mix-up somewhere along the line, we are going to unravel it.

Wali went on to say that the president would not apologise to Nigerians on the issue, adding that if anyone is to apologise, he should be the one.

“I hear some senators from the opposition asking the president to apologise to the country. If at all there is anybody who is going to apologise, I, being the minister of foreign affairs, will be the one to apologise and not the president.”

Earlier, there were reports that the Nigerian president was snubbed by the Morocco king, with the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs releasing a statement to that effect.

“The request by Nigerian authorities for a phone conversation between HM King Mohammed VI and Nigerian president was deemed inappropriate on grounds that it is linked to the important elections in Nigeria and also because of Nigeria’s positions regarding the sacred national, Arab and Islamic causes,” the ministry said.

After the presidency claimed that Jonathan indeed spoke with the Morocco king, the North African country recalled its ambassador to Nigeria.

Following this statement, the All Progressives Congress (APC) demanded that the president apologised to the nation for the international embarrassment.

Reuben Abati, presidential spokesman came out to clear the president, who he said was “shocked, surprised and highly embarrassed” by the controversy.