SAN FRANCISCO, December 03, (THEWILL) – The row between ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, over the abduction of the Chibok School girls in 2014 deepened with both sides throwing more shade at the other.
The spat between Jonathan and Shettima followed remarks by the Governor at a book launch, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria,’ in Abuja, where the Governor accused the ex-President of thinking that the Chibok girls’ abduction saga was a ploy to discredit his government.
However, Jonathan, through a statement by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, said Shettima should come clean on how the Chibok girls were kidnapped on April 14, 2014.
Eze described Shettima’s statement as parochial and jaundiced as he debunked the allegations insisting that the Governor frustrated the fight against insurgency, flouted security instructions and put the girls at risk.
“As a man who had never seen anything good in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan on account of party and other differences, it has remained our considered view that in a democracy, Governor Kashim Shettima and others like him are entitled to their opinion, no matter how jaundiced,” Ezekiel stated.
“He should be able to tell us if it was Jonathan’s poor choices that led the governor to expose students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok to avoidable danger, in total disregard of a Federal Government directive to the governors in the three states most affected by Boko Haram to relocate their students writing the West African Schools Certificate Examination to safe zones.
“We didn’t expect anything less from Governor Shettima, knowing the ignoble roles he played in frustrating the war waged by the past administration against Boko Haram, even in his own Borno State.
“He should be able to tell us if it was Jonathan’s poor choices that led the governor to expose students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok to avoidable danger, in total disregard of a Federal Government directive to the governors in the three states mostaffected by Boko Haram to relocate their students writing the WestAfrican School Certificate Examinations to safe zones.
“The governor is now denying that he had no hand in the kidnap of the Chibok girls even before anybody accused him of culpability.
“However, we share the view of those who insist that the governor had other things up his sleeve when he promised the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) that he would secure the girls, and ended up doing the very opposite, by deliberately abandoning them to their fate, without any security presence in their school.
“It is instructive that while other governors in the zone heeded the security advice, Shettima remained the only one that flagrantly flouted it. Should we also fail to point out that his decision to reward the principal of Chibok Secondary School, who was uncharacteristically absent on the night terrorists stormed the school, with the post of a commissioner, did throw up more questions than answers?
“Talking about accountability, perhaps, Shettima should also do well to explain to the good people of Borno State and Nigerians what he did with the over N60 billion local government funds left by his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.”
Responding, Shettima through a statement by the Borno State Commissioner of Education, Musa Inuwa Kubo, challenged the ex-President to make public the report a Presidential Fact-Finding Committee he constituted in the wake of the girls’ abduction, ‘if he has nothing to hide.’
The Commissioner, who denied allegation by Jonathan that the Principal of Chibok Secondary School at the time of the abduction was appointed commissioner by the Shettima administration, insisted that no one contributed to the fight against Boko Haram than Shettima.
He revealed that Shettima single-handedly approved the funding of civilian JTF without any support from the Federal Government adding that Jonathan himself repeatedly acknowledged the roles played by Civilian JTF in whatever success his administration recorded in fighting the insurgency.
“Rather than direct spurious allegations against Governor Kashim Shettima on controversies surrounding the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls, media aides should ask their principal, ex-President Jonathan, why he deliberately concealed the report of a Presidential Fact-Finding Committee he constituted and inaugurated on May 6, 2014 and which submitted the report of findings to him on June 20, 2014,” he stated.
“To refresh their minds, on May 6, 2014, President Jonathan had inaugurated multi-agency/stakeholder fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of Brig. General Ibrahim Sabo (rtd), a one-time Director of Military Intelligence and secretary of the Committee was from the Niger Delta.
“President Jonathan single handedly selected all members of that committee which included representatives of the UN, ECOWAS, retired and serving security officers from the Army, DSS and the Police; representatives of the Chibok community, local and international civil rights organizations, representatives of the National Council of Women Societies, the Nigeria Union of Journalists and some of his highly trusted associates.
“For nearly two months, the committee undertook thorough investigation that included forensic assessment of all documents on the entire issues, held meetings with parents of the schoolgirls, visited Chibok, met with the then Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, the Director General of the DSS and the Inspector General of Police, all of whom were appointees of President Jonathan.
“The committee also met with officials of Borno Government including myself and the school principal. The committee held meetings with the heads of different security agencies in Borno State, including the security formations in charge of Chibok and after compiling their findings, the committee submitted its report directly to President Jonathan on June 20, 2014 in Aso Rock.
“The question anyone should ask is why President Jonathan deliberately refused to make that report public. What was he hiding from Nigerians? Here is another question, if the findings had indicted Governor Shettima or the Borno State Government in anyway, does anyone really thinks Jonathan would have concealed that report given his open hatred for Shettima and the fact that the Governor was in the opposition party?
“Also, the issue of saying the Principal of GSS Chibok was appointed a Commissioner is an irresponsible mischief because Governor Kashim Shettima is neither foolish nor is he a daft.”
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