Reno Omokri, former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that he (Buhari) handled the abduction of 110 female students from their hostels in a secondary school in Dapchi, Yobe State better than Jonathan did in similar incident four years ago when 276 girls were seized from their school in Chibok, Borno State.
During his visit to Yobe State on Wednesday, Buhari had stated that his administration’s response to the abduction of 110 schoolgirls from their hostels at Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State on February 19, 2018 “is a clear departure from the insensitivity of the past administration which looked the other way while the Chibok girls were taken away in 2014 and held in captivity for over three years.”
Omokri dismissed the assertion in a statement saying Buhari told what he (Buhari) knows is not the truth.
“It beats my imagination why a president who is close to 80 years of age will continue to lie like a child.
“When the Chibok girls were kidnapped, the Jonathan administration did not ‘look the other way’ as President Buhari claims and historical records prove this.
“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. Is this the act of an administration or a president that looks away?
“Now more than two weeks 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 cancelled the Federal Executive Council meeting that was to hold after the Dapchi Girls were kidnapped because of a conference he had to attend.
“Between a president who calls an emergency meeting after Chibok and a president who cancelled an important meeting so he could attend an economic conference, who can be described as looking the other way?”
Omokri wondered what kind of 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.
“When Yusuf Buhari had an accident, President Buhari cancelled off all his engagements and headed straight to the hospital.
“When the Dapchi girls were kidnapped, the same President Buhari carried on as usual and went to Kano to dance and socialise at a society wedding!
“After the Jonathan administration held an emergency National Security Council meeting on April 17, 2014, the Nigerian Army and Air Force began searching for the Chibok girls with sorties being flown in search of the girls,” said Omokri.
He further alleged that one of the people who undermined the then administration’s anti-terror war was Buhari who on June 3, 2013, said the “military offensive against Boko Haram is anti-North”.
Omokri also observed that the president lied when he said his administration “rescued” 100 Chibok girls, saying they were not rescued but released by Boko Haram in exchange for ransom and captured commanders of the terror sect.
“The Chibok girls were not rescued. As a matter of fact, they were released by Boko Haram after the alleged payment of huge ransoms and freedom of captured Boko Haram commanders by the Buhari administration.
“Only two weeks ago, Shuaibu Moni, one of the Boko Haram commanders released by the Buhari administration went back to Sambisa Forest and released a video threatening Nigeria.
“Who knows whether it was money allegedly paid as ransom to Boko Haram, or individuals freed by the government that were used to facilitate the kidnap of the Dapchi girls and the recent killings of United Nations staff in Rann.
“Again, three weeks ago, Chief Mike Okiro, the head of the Police Service Commission, revealed that under President Muhammadu Buhari, 150,000 policemen are guarding ‘big men’ instead of performing core police duties.
“President Buhari’s son, Yusuf, alone had more guards guarding him than the guards attached to Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, at the time of the kidnapping, yet the president has the guts to say he handled Dapchi better than Jonathan handled Chibok.
“A serious president, knowing how vulnerable the North-east is, would have sent these 150,000 policemen to guard schools in the Northeast rather than send them out to guard APC big shots all over the country.
“Finally, can President Buhari, who claims to have defeated Boko Haram, tell the world how many people are killed daily by Boko Haram under his regime as compared to the previous regime?
“In the first ten weeks of 2018, Boko Haram killed 519 people in the North-east. Only a patently dishonest leader can claim to have defeated Boko Haram with such numbers,” he said.
Similarly, the co-convener of //BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) advocacy group, Aisha Yesufu, called on the president to stop the game of comparison with ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.
Yesufu said in her reaction that Buhari’s visit was supposed to be a show of empathy to parents of 110 missing girls and not a show of comparison.
She urged the president to stop dragging level of incompetence with Jonathan.
On her twitter page, she wrote “President Muhammadu Buhari’s tour was supposed to be of empathy and condolence instead it has turned into show of incompetence.
“Can someone tell PMB he was not voted to drag title of incompetence with Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan? He should leave GEJ alone!”
