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.
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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