We have noted with surprise, the unnecessary hue and cry raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other bigoted critics of the Jonathan Administration over the claim that the President is “hobnobbing” with the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who was recently accused by the Australian, Stephen Davis of being one of the chief sponsors of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Continue…
The
totally erroneous basis for that charge was the spurious claim that
Senator Sheriff accompanied President Jonathan on his recent trip to
Ndjamena as a member of his entourage.
Although
Senator Sheriff himself has already given the lie to that claim through
his Media Adviser, the Presidency wishes to affirm, for the purpose of
emphasis, that the former Borno State governor was not on President
Jonathan’s delegation to Chad.
In keeping with President
Jonathan’s commitment to transparency and openness in the conduct of
government business, names of the key members of his delegation were
announced a day before his trip to Ndjamena.
They
included the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), the
Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and the
Director-General of National Space Research and Development Agency,
Prof. Seidu Mohammed.
As can be easily verified from the complete list of members of the Presidential entourage to Chad which was also circulated on Sunday
and never changed, Senator Sheriff’s name was not on it. The only other
persons on the list were the President’s aides, security personnel and
journalists.
The
APC and others who rushed to condemn President Jonathan for a
non-existent indiscretion would have found, if they took the least
trouble to double-check, that there was absolutely no factual basis for
their accusation.
Those
who associate with Senator Sheriff know that he has longstanding
interests in Chad and often spends a lot of his time there. He happened
to be in Ndjamena at the time of President Jonathan’s visit and joined
other Nigerian residents of the Chadian capital in coming to the airport
to welcome their President.
That
was the full extent of his participation in the visit and it was also
at Ndjamena Airport that the pictures which formed the basis of the
bogus allegation of President Jonathan hobnobbing with an “accused
sponsor of terrorism” were taken.
The
former Governor’s presence in Chad was certainly not at President
Jonathan’s instance and he did not participate in any of the President’s
discussions with President Idriss Deby or his other engagements in
Ndjamena.
President
Jonathan is fully aware of the allegation made against Senator Sheriff
by Stephen Davis. That allegation is already being investigated by the
security agencies who will make their findings known to the public in
due course.
The
President assures all Nigerians that he has not willfully taken any
action that could prejudice the outcome of that ongoing inquiry.
He
seizes this opportunity to reassure the nation once again of his total
commitment to doing all within his powers to bring all identified and
verified sponsors of terrorism to justice, and ending the menace of
violent extremism in the country.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
Media & Publicity
September 11, 2014
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