Lagos — Nigerian High Commission yesterday denied report in a national newspaper, that governors, ministers and others were shut out at a London reception organised for Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement, the Commission noted that, "First, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, GCON, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, arrived the official residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner in London for the dinner hosted in his honour on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 8.07p.m. At exactly 38 minutes after his arrival, security instructions were issued for the gates to be shut, consistent with standard international security and State protocol practices.

"Second, the reference to a similar situation when President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, GCFR, was hosted at the same venue in July 2008, was inappropriate, as reopening the gates after the arrival of Mr. President led to a near chaos, creating security and protocol nightmares for the Mission. The Mission found this instructive, for which reason the gates were shut on the recent occasion of the Vice President's visit.

"Third, the High Commission is presently implementing the re-branding programme of the Federal Government, which among other objectives, is aimed at correcting the attitudinal orientation of our people at home and abroad. Arriving promptly at occasions is therefore, consistent with the re-branding campaign of government. We should no longer tolerate the so-called 'African nay Nigerian Time' as an excuse of lateness to events.

"Fourth, as regards non-admittance of a Nollywood star and a PDP UK stalwart, there is no evidence in our records that these gentlemen were officially invited to the occasion. It is trite to state that you cannot turn up for State functions to which you have not been officially invited and expect to be admitted.

"Fifth, the bias, lack of fairness and objectivity on the part of the correspondent who posted the unfortunate story, could be discerned from his concluding sentence, to wit: ' although no official explanation could be given for the incident, some guests felt that the embassy officials lacked foresight and that they might have invited more guests than the venue could accommodate " This was far from truth and reality.

"The incontrovertible fact remains that garden of the official residence of Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom has capacity to accommodate more than 1000 guests at a time."

A maximum of 500 guests were invited to the dinner in honour of Jonathan, GCON, Vice President and as at the time he left the venue of the occasion, the tables that remained unoccupied were enough to accommodate all invited guests, had they arrived on schedule.

"In the light these clarifications, the High Commission kindly requests the newspaper to set the record straight by giving equal prominence to the Mission's side of the story as contained in this rejoinder, and for the purposes of balance, fairness and objectivity for which the paper is widely-known and respected."