• President’s advance team was in Maiduguri as at Thursday
Abati: Presidency never announced any trip to the town
It was a discreet plan, conceived to catch virtually everyone unawares and earn the president a huge plaudit after the intense criticism he has had to contend with on account of the less than satisfactory manner the abduction of over 200 female students in Chibok, Borno State, was handled.
But a leak put paid to that and the media was soon awash with reports that President Goodluck Jonathan would be visiting the community that has been in the spotlight since April 14, when the students of Government Girls Secondary School were abducted by Boko Haram.
The Presidency has however denied the report that Jonathan had planned to visit Chibok. “Every trip by the president is usually pre-announced. The Presidency did not at any time announce a trip to Chibok today. Ignore rumours,” Senior Special Adviser to the president on Media, Dr. Reuben Abati, announced Friday on his Twitter page.
“The statement issued by my office yesterday (Thursday) indicated very clearly that the president is scheduled to travel to Paris today (Friday). It is therefore wrong and malicious to allege that a non-existent trip has been cancelled,” he tweeted.
Also, the Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Mike Omeri, spoke Friday, corroborating Abadi’s earlier statement. VOANEWS online quoted Omeri as describing reports that President Jonathan would visit Chibok yesterday as “misinformation” being peddled both locally and internationally to create tension and panic among the population.
“I am not sure of the report and its sources. As coordinator of the National information Centre, I don’t have information; therefore I doubt its authenticity. “Since this incident started, lots of misinformation has been going on locally and on the global stage. And Nigerians out there who are not part of what is happening at home are feeling agitated and worried,” said Omeri.
“We have so many such stories even in some of our local newspapers that are not true.” Omeri said such misinformation was the reason the federal government had to establish an information centre to enlighten Nigerians, both home and abroad, on what was really going on. “What we have done is to ensure the streamlining of information to serve as the only credible source to the people, available and put in place by the government Nigeria. So, what happens here is that any other agency engaging in this activity channels reports and outcomes to this centre and it is further relayed to citizens,” Omeri said.
Omeri said the government had stepped up efforts in search of the abducted schoolgirls following what he says has been an intensified support from the international community. Military sources told New Telegraph that the president’s intended visit had, in fact, been communicated to relevant authorities in Borno State, adding that it was on that basis the Nigerian Army sent a reconnaissance team since Thursday to comb the area to be visited by the president.
The source also confirmed that an advance team of the president’s convoy arrived in Maiduguri by 12 noon on Thursday to prepare for the president’s visit, but that the plan had to be shelved due to unconvincing security report.
At the time of filing this report, the source said there was no contrary report to the earlier communication, but that the Recce team had been asked to report to the 7 DIV of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri. The source lamented that apart from the service chiefs who visited Borno to assess the scene of the abduction of the Chibok girls, no federal government delegation has visited the state.
“Not even the minister of women affairs who is from the zone,” he said. The situation in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has been tense in the past few days since soldiers at the Maimalari Barracks reportedly fired some shots during an address by the 7 Division’s General Officer Commanding, Major Gen. Ahmed Muhammed, on Wednesday.
The Defence Headquarters later announced that the GOC has been redeployed, adding that the army would set up a board of inquiry to probe the conduct of the soldiers who were said to have been enraged by the circumstances that led to the death of four of their colleagues in an ambush. “On evacuation of the remains of the fallen troops, the General Officer Commanding addressed the troops who registered their anger about the incident by firing into the air,” Defence spokesman, Major- General Chris Olukolade, said in a statement.
The Jonathan administration’s initial silence when news of the students abduction broke had been strongly denounced both within and outside the country. The disaffection it caused would later inspire the#BringBackOurGirls campaign that went viral online, and became a global phenomenon, with British Prime Minister David Cameron and United States first lady, Michelle Obama, lending their support. The campaign has also rallied support from countries such as the United States, Britain, China and Israel who have all pledged to assist the federal government in its bid to rescue the abducted students.
In a related development, President Jonathan has appealed to Nigerians to be calm and prayerful as government intensifies efforts to wipe out terrorism in parts of the country. Jonathan made the appeal in Abuja on Friday at the opening of this year’s Synod of the Abuja Diocese (Anglican Communion). Represented by the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, Jonathan urged Nigerians not to despair in the face of terror but to rise stronger against the insurgents and their sponsors.
“These threats to our society should not be taken lightly by citizens; we must all rise strongly against our enemies. “I must also state categorically that Nigeria will get to the Promise Land in spite of the setbacks, we are already on the right path and we must surely move forward as a nation,’’ a NAN report quoted him as saying. Jonathan thanked the church for the prayers and urged them not to relent and expressed hope that the present challenges would soon be addressed.
Earlier, the Primate of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, urged Nigerians to support the federal government in tackling challenges confronting the nation. Okoh stressed the need for Nigerians of different religious and political backgrounds to put sentiments aside and join the fight against ills in the society.
The primate, who spoke on a wide range of national issues, welcomed the proposal by President Goodluck Jonathan for the extension of emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. “For me, the country should consider the benefits of the emergency rule in the states where the insurgents have held sway.
`”In a situation where it is ascertained that the emergency rule has helped, the legislature should not waste time to approve the President’s proposal. As long as our problems have not been solved, emergency rule should continue’’, he said. Also, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, welcomed the proposal for the extension of state of emergency in the states. Oritsejafor, who spoke at CAN’s one day prayer for Nigeria in Abuja, said the conditions that warranted the emergency rule had not been addressed hence the extension.
He urged politicians to put their differences aside and join the federal government in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. The CAN president, however, advised government not to trade the abducted Chibok schoolgirls for Boko Haram members in detention.
Source: New Telegraph
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