President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday
came under fire over the presence of a former Borno State Governor, Ali
Modu-Sheriff, at a meeting he held with Chadian President Idris Deby in
Ndjamena on Monday.
A picture on Abati’s twitter handle early on Tuesday showed that Modu-Sheriff was present at the Ndjamena meeting.
Among those that berated the President were the opposition All Progressives Congress, lawyers and civil society groups.
Their anger was predicated on the fact
that the former governor was recently accused by an Australian hostage
negotiator, Steven Davis, of allegedly sponsoring Boko Haram.
Shortly after the allegation, there were
calls by the All Progressives Congress and some civil society groups for
the arrest and prosecution of Sheriff.
Last Thursday, the Department of State Security invited the former governor to defend the allegations.
But when the picture of the Ndjamena meeting surfaced, the APC slammed Jonathan for hobnobbing with the ex- governor.
The APC , in a statement by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, demanded an explanation from
the Presidency.
It accused the President of exhibiting a
shocking act of indiscretion by hobnobbing with Sheriff who is not known
to have been investigated and cleared of the allegation against him.
The party wondered what message
Jonathan was sending to his compatriots and indeed the international
community by taking Sheriff to Chad for a meeting against terrorism.
The statement partly read, “This action
by President Jonathan confirms what the APC has always believed: That he
either knows more than he is willing to admit on the issue of those who
are behind the Boko Haram insurgency or he is willing to sacrifice the
battle against terrorism on the altar of political expediency.
“Either way, this action by the President
is the height of indiscretion at best, or a palpable exhibition of
callowness at worst.
“It also confirms our fears that Sheriff
was planted as a mole in the APC by his friends in high places, who are
jittery about the birth of the party and would do anything to
destabilise it.”
The APC said the President could not
pretend not to be aware of a report sent home by Nigeria’s Defence
Adviser in Ndjamena in 2011, detailing the suspicious activities of
Sheriff and asking the Federal Government to investigate him.
The party said if this was a joke, it is
one too far, especially at a time that Nigeria had been losing some of
its territories to Boko Haram.
The APC said it was apparent that
Jonathan smuggled Sheriff into his entourage, as the official statement
announcing the trip, never mentioned he would accompany the President .
Mohammed said nobody in Nigeria would
have known of this unholy alliance carried too far if not that the
picture of the President, his host and the former governor surfaced via
Twitter.
It said the President should explain
what he knows about the allegations that Sheriff and a former Chief of
Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, were Boko Haram sponsors.
The APC wondered why the Jonathan
administration had not handed both men to the International Criminal
Court for investigation and possible prosecution.
Also, lawyers like Femi Falana, Fred
Agbaje, Jiti Ogunye, Festus Keyamo and Monday Ubani said the presence of
the former governor at the Ndjamena meeting was inexplicable.
A former Borno State Commissioner for Information , Mr. Inuwa Bwala, however, dismissed the allegations against Sheriff.
Bwala described the APC statement as a celebrating of falsehood.
He told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview that the party had yet to get over Sheriff’s loss to the ruling PDP.
The former Commissioner said it was
mischievous for the APC to claim that Sheriff was part of the
President’s entourage when indeed he (Sheriff) was among several
Nigerians who received the President at the airport in Chad.
Bawala said, “The APC is celebrating
falsehood. This is the height of their desperation and mischief all
targeted at diverting public attention from the truth.
“Answers to the Boko Haram puzzle are
within the ranks of the APC and very soon Nigerians will know them
because their activities will soon be exposed.
“Senator Sheriff is a Nigerian who is doing business in Chad – he is prospecting for oil.
“Long before the President’s visit, he
had been doing business there. As a loyal party member, there is nothing
wrong if he joins people to receive the President in a country he is
doing business in.”
But lawyers like Femi Falana, Fred
Agbaje, Jiti Ogunye, Festus Keyamo and Monday Ubani said the presence of
the former governor at the Ndjamena meeting was inexplicable.
Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior
Advocate of Nigeria told one of our correspondents that the inclusion
of Sheriff on the President’s entourage was the height of insensitivity.
The SAN had earlier appealed to the
International Criminal Court to investigate and possibly prosecute
anyone indicted by Davies.
He said, “By this act, President Jonathan has demonstrated once again that he doesn’t give a damn about public opinion.”
Agbaje said, “There is so much dishonesty
in governance. It means the government doesn’t appreciate the severity
or gravity of what Boko Haram has done to innocent Nigerians.
“That action has also confirmed the
President’s earlier position three years ago that the Boko Haram has
infiltrated the government . He actually knows them and he is just
covering them up because of 2015.”
Ogunye described the action of the President as disheartening and an indication of petty politicking.
He said, “It is disheartening and
inexplicable that it is that same person that Mr. President will include
in a delegation to go to Chad.
“We have said that in dealing with this menace, statesmanship should override political consideration and petty politicking.
“The state appears to be sleep walking;
and you know when you are sleep-walking, you don’t take rational and
reasonable decision.
“Statecraft and statesmanship are taking flight and petty politicking is taking over.”
Keyamo said, “It also shows a lack of
moral power to fight the Boko Haram scourge. It shows lack of moral and
legal power to confront the sponsors of Boko Haram. The President by
this action is telling all of us that there is more to it that meets the
eye; that is what they are telling us.”
Also, Ubani said it was improper for Jonathan to have travelled with Sheriff .
Pointing that the former governor remains
a suspect based on the allegation made against him, he added that it
“was not proper for the president to have taken him along especially
when the issue of the security of the nation is being discussed.
But the Nigerian Bar Association disagreed with Falana, Agbaje Keyamo, Ubani and Ogunye.
Its President, Mr. Augustine Alegeh
(SAN), said that Nigerians should respect the judgment of the
President in including Sherriff in the entourage.
Alegeh added that Jonathan must have acted on the basis of information that was exclusive to him.
He said, “The President is the Chief
Security Officer of the country , consequently he may have a lot of
information at his disposal which you and I do not have.
“For him to have taken such a decision,
he must have done that based on the information at his disposal which we
do not have. And we must learn to respect our President and trust his
judgment on matters of this nature.”
The groups that also commented on the development were the Afenifere and the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders.
Its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin,
said the President needed to explain to Nigerians what role Sheriff
was playing in his government’s fight against terrorism.
Odumakin said, “We don’t know in which
capacity he (President Jonathan) took Sheriff along in the trip. But it
was stated that the essence of the meeting was to discuss terrorism and
maybe Sherrif is a consultant since he has been severally alleged to
know a few things about the operations of the Islamic sect.
“The Presidency will have to let us know
in which capacity he (Sheriff) was made part of the entourage – whether
he has information that could be helpful in terms of sacking the crisis.
So we need to know the details.
“I don’t want to accept that he was just
taken in just to take a seat with the President on the presidential jet
to Chad. So we need to no more details.”
CACOL said it was not surprised that
Sheriff was in Chad because “the Presidency had admitted long ago that
Boko Haram had infiltrated it.”
“It means that the Federal Government
doesn’t want the issue of Boko Haram solved just like Davies said. The
president should have insisted that before he could associate with such
a person, he would ensure that he goes through some kind of
investigations. But this is a shameless government that has lost the
battle,” its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran said.
