Former President, Goodluck
Jonathan, has rubbished a statement credited to the Minister of Information and
Culture, Lai Mohammed that his administration delayed in responding to the
abduction of Chibok girls.
Mohammed, while speaking at the
foundation laying ceremony of the Editors’ plaza championed by the Nigerian
Guild of Editors, said, “Now, don’t compare orange with apple. When Chibok
girls were kidnapped, it took the PDP government 18 full days to admit that the
girls were kidnapped. This time we swung into action within 24 hours.”
Reacting to the statement,
Jonathan told Mohammed to respect his age and stop lying to Nigerians.
In a statement signed on his
behalf by his former aide, Reno Omokri, Jonathan described as lies report that
his government took 18 days to admit that the Chibok Girls were kidnapped.
The statement reads, “My attention has been drawn to fallacious comments made by the
notoriously dishonest Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to the
effect that the Jonathan administration did not act on time when the Chibok Girls
were kidnapped whereas the Buhari government acted promptly when the Dapchi
Girls were kidnapped.
“Lai’s comments are reminiscent
of the statement made by Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, justifying
President Buhari’s inaction on killer Fulani herdsmen because the herdsmen also
killed during Jonathan’s tenure.
“When will Lai Mohammed respect
his old age and stop lying? Is he not ashamed at the storm he is currently
facing on social media after he lied that 100 planes are searching for the
Dapchi Girls, a statement that was promptly denounced as a lie by the Nigerian
Air Force? Even members of his own government know Lai Mohammed is a liar.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it
is not true that the Jonathan government took 18 days to admit that the Chibok
Girls were kidnapped.
“The Chibok Girls were kidnapped
on April 14, 2014. Exactly three days later, on April 17, 2014, then President
Goodluck Jonathan called an emergency National Security Council meeting at Aso
Rock Presidential Villa.
“If the Jonathan administration
did not admit that the Chibok Girls were kidnapped, why would the President
summon a Nation Security Council meeting?
“Now more than a week after the
Dapchi Girls were kidnapped, has President Buhari held a National Security
Council meeting to address the situation? No he has not. As a matter of fact,
to prove to Nigerians how inept he is, the President canceled this week’s
Federal Executive Council meeting.
“Which serious leader cancels the
most important meeting in his nation at a time when Kaduna is facing ethnic and
religious killings, Zamfara is facing mass killings by bandits, Benue, Plateau,
Adamawa and Taraba are facing an onslaught from Fulani herdsmen and 110 girls
were kidnapped in Dapchi?
“Going back to the Jonathan administration,
the Nigerian Army and Air force began searching for the girls after the
emergency National Security Council meeting on April 17, 2014, with sorties
being flown in search of the girls.
“But very curiously, Nigerians
would recall that the All Progressive Congress Governor of Borno State,
Governor Kashim Shettima, admitted in an interview he gave Premium Times on
April 2, 2016, that he deliberately did not inform the then President about the
Chibok kidnap when it happened. President Jonathan had to find out from
military forces on the ground.
“Why would the chief security
officer of his state be that negligent?
“My advice to Alhaji Lai Mohammed
is that he should direct his lying talents to the specific task of cooking up
lies to counter the testimony of the APC Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam,
who blamed the kidnapping of the Dapchi Girls on the Buhari administration.
“According to Mr. Geidam, the
Nigerian Army under President Buhari pulled out the troops guarding Government
Girls Science and Technology College, Dapchi.
“Who gave the order for the
troops to leave their guard duty? The sector command has said that they handed
over security of the school to the Nigerian Police Force, an assertion that has
been denied by the police.
“These are the things that should
concern Lai Mohammed, not a contest with an administration that scored higher
anti-corruption ratings from Transparency International than the corrupt
government he is serving. And if he has too much time on his hand, Lai Mohammed
can travel to more European football clubs to disgrace himself and his family
by wearing a suit jacket on top of an agbada.
“Let me end by saying that
whoever named Lai Mohammed at birth must have been a prophet. The person was
able to look far ahead into Lai’s future and gave him a name that rhymes with
his life’s purpose.”
Chai.....................Lai, you see your life?
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