Others • Created September 9, 2014 19:19

Jonathan travels to Chad with alleged B/Haram sponsor, Sheriff

President Goodluck Jonathan Monday travelled to Ndjamena, Chadian Capital, with an alleged Boko Haram sponsor, Ali Modu Sheriff. Jonathan went to Chad to meet with President Idriss Deby, in continuation of the Federal Government’s efforts towards forging a stronger alliance against terrorism and violent extremism with Nigeria’s neighbours. Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, Monday released a […]

Jonathan travels to Chad with alleged B/Haram sponsor, Sheriff
Jonathan travels to Chad with alleged B/Haram sponsor, Sheriff

President Goodluck Jonathan Monday travelled to Ndjamena, Chadian Capital, with an alleged Boko Haram sponsor, Ali Modu Sheriff.
Jonathan went to Chad to meet with President Idriss Deby, in continuation of the Federal Government’s efforts towards forging a stronger alliance against terrorism and violent extremism with Nigeria’s neighbours.
Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, Monday released a picture on his twitter handle showing Sheriff seated in a meeting with Jonathan and Deby.
Meanwhile, Abati had, in a statement on Sunday, said Jonathan would be accompanied to Chad by National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki, Minister of Communication Technology Omobola Johnson, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nurudeen Mohammed and Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Sheidu Mohammed.
Australian negotiator, Stephen Davis, had recently alleged that Sheriff and former Chief of Army Staff Azubuike Ihejirika were Boko Haram sponsors.
Reacting today in a statement by its spokesman, Lai Mohammed, the All Progressives Congress (APC) accused the president of exhibiting “a shocking act of indiscretion by hobnobbing with an alleged Boko Haram sponsor”.

The party wondered what message Jonathan was sending to Nigerians and the global community by traveling to Chad with Sheriff for a meeting on joint actions against terrorism.

”This action by President Jonathan confirms what the APC has always believed: That the President 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 Modu 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 destabilize it,” the APC said.

The party said Jonathan was not unaware of a report by Nigerian Defence Adviser in Ndjamena in 2011, detailing the suspicious activities of Sheriff in Chad concerning alleged Boko Haram sponsorship and urging the Nigerian government to investigate him.

It said: ”If this is a joke, it is one joke taken too far, especially at a time that Nigeria has been losing territories after territories to Boko Haram; at a time that the same Modu Sheriff has been fingered by another source other than the Nigerian Defence Adviser in Chad, and at a time that calls are being made for an independent investigation into the allegation that Modu Sheriff and former Army Chief Azubuike Ihejirika are Boko Haram sponsors. Or could it be the case of it takes a thief to catch a thief?”.

The APC further alleged that Jonathan must have smuggled Sheriff into his entourage as the presidential spokesman never mentioned him as one of those to accompany the president to Chad.
 
”Nobody in Nigeria would have known of this unholy alliance carried too far if not that the picture of the President, his host and Modu Sheriff surfaced via Twitter, where incredulous Nigerians were wondering what the President was doing with an alleged Boko Haram sponsor at a time the same terrorist group is waging a titanic battle against Nigeria.
 
”Therefore, the President owes Nigerians an explanation on why he took Modu Sheriff to Chad, what the President knows about the allegation hanging on the former Governor’s neck concerning Boko Haram sponsorship and why his administration has not handed him (Sheriff) and Ihejirika to the International Criminal Court for investigation and possible prosecution, since it is now obvious that the administration is unwilling to probe them,” it said.

Tags