Presidency Distances Self From Modu Sheriff, Says Investigations On Alleged Boko Haram Sponsors Ongoing
Nigerian Presidency has distanced itself from the former Borno state governor, Ali Modu Sheriff over his seeming clinging to President Goodluck Jonathan in Chad, saying that security people would be allowed to continue with their investigations into those that were named as allegedly sponsors of Boko Haram.
An Australian, Dr. Stephen Davis had, a couple of weeks ago, named Ali Modu Sheriff as one of those whom Boko Haram leaders told him have been sponsoring their deadly activities in many parts of the Northern Nigeria.
Special Adviser to President Jonathan on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati told newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today that Senator Sheriff’s name was not on the list of the entourage in the President journey to Chad.
He said that the claim by the National Publicity Secretary of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Lai Mohammed that Modu Sheriff accompanied President Jonathan on his trip to Ndjamena was spurious.
“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,
“The only other persons on the list were the President’s aides, security personnel and journalists.”
Dr. Abati said that those who associate with Senator Sheriff know that he has longstanding interests in Chad and often spends a lot of his time there.
He said that Ali Modu Sheriff 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.”
The President’s spokesman expressed surpriss at what he called, the unnecessary hue and cry raised by the APC “and other bigoted critics of the Jonathan Administration over the claim that the President is “hobnobbing” with the former governor Ali Modu Sheriff. [myad]
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has incurred the wrath of Igbo people over the recent creation of additional 30,000 polling units across the country.
South African goalless draw with Nigeria in their Group A 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Cape Town Stadium today has pushed Nigeria to the third position while the South Africa goes for second in the group on four points behind Congo Republic, who defeated Sudan earlier in the day to move to six points.
Nigerian minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu has assured the nation that schools are safe to open to students on September 22 as the incidence of Ebola Disease has been brought properly under control.
The Shame Of #Bring Back Goodluck2015#
It took the intervention of the US Newspaper, The Washington Post, to draw the attention of the world and President Goodluck Jonathan on the primitive and evil machinations of the president’s men who tried few days back to use the hash tag,
#BringBackOurGirls# to pursue their wicked and narrow agenda for 2015.
The moment The Washington Post hit the newsstand, President Jonathan ordered his handlers and campaigners to dismantle the shameful campaign billboards across the country bearing the harsh tag #Bring Back Goodluck2015#.
In the social media yesterday, angry Nigerians disparaged the presidency and the supporters of the president for making mockery of our kidnapped girls who had spent 150days in captivity. Most contributors held the view that if Washington Post had not internationalized the ugly and dubious campaigns faking the #BringBackOurGirls# project, the President would have not ordered the stoppage of the useless campaign.
First, it was the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) who are going about the zones in Nigeria, staging rallies even when INEC has not blown the whistle for campaign rallies and drumming support for President Jonathan’s 2015 agenda in the face of massive hunger, insecurity, lack of electricity, joblessness, decayed infractstruture, brazen corruption, impunity, threat of insurgency, weak leadership, etc.
The TAN advocates have been blurring our line of vision and insulting our sensibilities but we have been silent believing that a time will come when a spade will be called a spade. We have left them believing that a time will come when the chicken will come home to roost. We have ignored their noise across the country knowing fully well that the time of reckoning is fast approaching. But these people have lost every sense of reasoning to realize when to say enough is enough. TAN is a resurrection of Abacha’s Youth Earnestly Ask For Abacha (YEA).Their mission and concept are the same and tallies with the decayed politics of our country.
How can a people with minds of their own forget that nearly 300 of our young girls have been in captivity for 150days? How can they ignore the feelings of the parents? Do they know that some of these parents have died of heart break because of the missing girls? Are these people real parents? Do they think in terms of these parents? Why do they have to abuse the hash tag #BringBackOurGirls# to campaign for a Commander-In-Chief who is not the real Commander-In-Chief? Are we still playing politics with the missing girls? Are these people not intelligent enough to find something else to use to sell their candidate than to steal the
#BringBackOurGirl# hashtag? How can a people who claim to possess good education indulge in this show of shame in the 21st century? A friend once told me that you cannot lead people if you do not love the people. You cannot save the people if you do not serve the people. Has the PDP led the people of Nigeria? Have these people served the people of Nigeria very well? No, they do not love us and they cannot save us.
Another learned friend of mine tells me that it is better to present a weak argument strongly than to present strong argument weakly. He told me that he cannot imagine a situation where a weak argument will be presented weakly. The campaigners of President Goodluck Jonathan are presenting a weak argument weakly. In their thinking, Nigerians cannot think or recall otherwise, they would have advised their candidate that he and his government have not done enough to justify the votes they got in 2011. They would have told him that the mounting state of insecurity, the unacceptable level of poverty, the state of total unemployment, the overwhelming state of corruption, the state of total infrastructural decay are not testimonials for re-election. Yes, they keep dividing Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines but these are not credible pedestals to power.
We live in interesting times in Nigeria where fake drugs are being presented to us as original drugs. They are giving us fake currencies for genuine ones. When it is 8am in the morning the workers of iniquity tell us it is 6pm. A weak President and a frightened Commander-In-Chief is being presented to us as the strongest president in Nigeria. Their campaign for re-election is structured on weak platforms. They are not structured on credible platforms of performance and integrity. They are not based on stellar performance. They are not based on facts. They are based on phantoms and fantasies. Now can this kite fly? It cannot. [myad]