Goodluck Jonathan Denies Traveling To Chad With Ali Modu Sheriff
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has today denied traveling to Chad with ex Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff.
It would be recalled that Jonathan and Sheriff were spotted together during the talks of the Nigerian leader with his Chadian colleague Idriss Deby in N’Djamena on Tuesday, September 9.
As soon as this information surfaced, Jonathan came under attack over being so close with Sheriff, who was been recently accused by the Australian negotiator of sponsoring Boko Haram.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) later that day also criticized country head over the action characterizing it as a "joke taken too far".
While the former Borno governor is already under investigation by the Nigerian security in connection with the allegations posed by the Australian Stephen Davis, Jonathan denies traveling with Sheriff to Chad, The Nation reports.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, shed the light on the situation saying:
"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."
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He stressed the fact that all the delegation members had been announced a day before the trip adding that Sheriff's name was not listed.
"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. "
Responding to the criticism by the opposition party, Abati said:
"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."
Abati explained that meeting with Sheriff had not been scheduled in advance saying that the ex-governor happened to be in N’Djamena at the time of Jonathan’s visit and joined other Nigerian residents of the Chadian capital in coming to the airport to welcome their President.
Source: Legit.ng
