He noted that as the chairman of the peace committee, he had been meeting with a lot of people including ministers in the course of the transition.
The former military head of state who fielded questions from State House correspondents shortly after he met with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, said: "I think people are just trying to be mischievous, I have been meeting with a lot of people and a lot of ministers in the course of this transition. So there is nothing strange in me meeting with anybody."
On whether he is intervening on some ministers’ behalf based on their records, he replied "I wonder if you go through your records to see the number of meetings I have been engaging in. I don't know why the last one will be a subject of media chat.
"This is not the first time I have been meeting her (Diezani) and a number of ministers so I don't see what the whole hullabaloo is all about. People are just being mischievous."
Explaining why he came to the Villa, Abubakar noted that there had always been interactions between the president-elect Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and President. Goodluck Jonathan, in order to ensure that the peace was sustained.
He added that he was at the Villa to touch base with Jonathan and also to give him a report of what the committee had been doing.
Asked if he was serving as intermediary between Buhari and Jonathan necessary, Abubakar said "I am not serving as intermediary. I told I'm coming here as the chairman peace committee and naturally we have to interact, I go and see Gen. Buhari and I also see the President all in an effort to make sure than that this transition goes on smoothly and we maintain the peace.
"You are aware that there are some disturbances in some of the states and of course both the incoming and outgoing presidents have roles to play. The chairman of the various parties have roles to play in order to maintain that peace."
On peace achieved during and after elections, he added "I think we have to thank God in the first place secondly we have to thank President Jonathan for his statesmanship and his actions has really brought peace. We also have to thank Buhari for harping on his supporters to tune down their celebrations."
Tags
Society