President Jonathan Did Not Take Sheriff To Chad, He Will Also Not Interfere In The Ongoing Investigation Of Former Borno Governor- Abati

We have noted with surprise, the unnecessary hue and cry
raised by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other bigoted critics of the
Jonathan Administration over the claim that the President is “hobnobbing” with
the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who was recently
accused by the Australian, Stephen Davis of being one of the chief sponsors of
the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

The totally erroneous basis for that charge was the spurious
claim that Senator Sheriff accompanied President Jonathan on his recent trip to
Ndjamena as a member of his entourage.

Although Senator Sheriff himself has already given the lie
to that claim through his Media Adviser, the Presidency wishes to affirm, for
the purpose of emphasis, that the former Borno State governor was not on
President Jonathan’s delegation to Chad.

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, Senator Sheriff’s name was not on it. The only other persons on
the list were the President’s aides, security personnel and journalists.

The APC and others who rushed to condemn President Jonathan
for a non-existent indiscretion would have found, if they took the least
trouble to double-check, that there was absolutely no factual basis for their
accusation.

Those who associate with Senator Sheriff know that he has
longstanding interests in Chad and often spends a lot of his time there. He
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.