SHETTIMA TO JONATHAN: EXPLAIN WHY YOU HID SABO PANEL REPORT
Chibok Principal Denies Appointment As Commissioner
Rather than making spurious allegations against Governor Kashim Shettima on controversies surrounding abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, media aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan should ask him why he deliberately concealed the report of a Presidential FactFinding Committee he constituted and inaugurated in 2014 to probe the affair, Borno State Commissioner for Education Musa Inuwa Kubo said in a statement yesterday. Kubo, who was the Education Commissioner during the abduction saga, said Jonathan constituted the panel on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 and that the former president also received its report of findings on Friday, June 20, 2014.
Kubo, who was amongst those interrogated by the committee, spoke in response to a statement issued by Ikechukwu Eze, media aide to President Jonathan on Friday night, in which Eze challenged Shettima to tell Nigerians whatever he knew regarding the April 14, 2014 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram after attacks on Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State. He also said there was never a time the Principal of Government Secondary School, Chibok was considered appointment as commissioner or any other post. He described the claim by Jonathan’s media team as irresponsible mischief.
“For the purpose of records, Eze and his colleagues are pointing at the wrong direction. They should ask former President Goodluck Jonathan why he deliberately refused to make public the report of a committee he constituted, inaugurated and received their findings on facts surrounding the Chibok abduction and who is to blame for it. To refresh their minds, on Tuesday, the 6th of May, 2014, President Jonathan inaugurated a multi-agency/stakeholder factfinding committee under the chairmanship of Brig. General Ibrahim Sabo [retd.], a one-time Director of Military Intelligence who was at the time the Chief Security Officer at PDP National headquarters. The committee’s secretary was Kingsley Osadolor, who was special assistant to then Information Minister and Acting Defence Minister Labaran Maku.
“President Jonathan single handedly selected all members of that committee which included representatives of the UN, ECOWAS, retired diplomats and security officers from the Army, DSS and Police; representatives of the Chibok community, local and international civil rights organisations, representatives of the National Council of Women Societies, 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 DSS and Inspector General of Police, all of whom were appointees of President Jonathan.
“The committee also met with Borno Government officials including myself and the school principal. The committee held meetings with heads of different security agencies in Borno State including security formations in charge of Chibok and after compiling its findings, it submitted its report directly to President Jonathan on Friday, the 20th of June, 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? If the findings had indicted Governor Shettima or the Borno State Government in anyway, does anyone really think Jonathan would conceal that report given his open hatred for Shettima and the fact that the Governor was in the opposition party? Also, saying the Principal of GSS Chibok was appointed a Commissioner is an irresponsible mischief because that never happened,” the Commissioner said.
Kubo also said if there was one Nigerian that assisted Jonathan in the fight against Boko Haram, it was Governor Shettima who single handedly approved the funding of Civilian JTF without any support from the Federal Government even when Jonathan himself repeatedly acknowledged the roles played by Civilian JTF in whatever success his administration recorded in fighting the insurgency. He said the governor supported Jonathan by funding security agencies and mobilizing community intelligence as publicly attested to by the then Director of Operations at the Defence Headquarters, Major General Lawrence Ndugbane. Kubo said Jonathan’s main anger with Shettima was when the governor spoke out of frustration by telling the world that the Nigerian military wasn’t being properly equipped. He said the governor’s claim was later corroborated by former Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh and by issues that have since come to the surface about how funds meant for arms were shared under Jonathan.
The Commissioner further said President Jonathan’s decision to constitute that committee was a miraculous intervention by God to preserve the innocence of Governor Shettima and his administration. He said if Jonathan wasn’t the one that constituted a fact-finding committee and received a report, no administration on earth would have upheld Shettima’s innocence because Jonathan’s men would have questioned the report of any other fact-finding committee. He called on President Jonathan’s media team to find something more important to do with their time rather than making baseless allegations.