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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who was a guest on Radio Continental, 102.3 FM, last Friday January 8, said the negotiators engaged the previous administration, turned the whole thing into commercial venture and made millions only for the government to discover it had been swindled.
Jonathan’s administration it would be recalled, had begun moves to negotiate with Boko Haram over the release of the more than 200 girls abducted by the terrorists from their school dormitories in Chibok, Borno state, in April 2014.
The Voice of America has reported that the talks were also aimed at concluding a ceasefire deal between Nigerian security forces and Boko Haram.
Jonathan’s Principal Secretary, Hassan Tukur, was allegedly involved in the negotiation six months after the girls’ abduction, with one Danladi Ahmadu, who called himself the ‘Secretary-General’ of Boko Haram, held in Saudi Arabia, aided by high level officials from Chad and Cameroon.
According to Adesina, who posted the full transcript of the Radio Continental, 102.3 FM interview on his Facebook wall, the President had insisted that the genuineness of the leadership of Boko Haram must be determined before further negotiations take place.
Adesina said, ”We need to know a little bit of what happened behind the scenes, between the last government and some people masquerading as the leadership of Boko Haram who wanted to get the Chibok girls released. They actually turned it into a franchise, it became a commercial thing and they got money, possibly in millions of dollars, only for government to discover it had been swindled. They kept saying they could get the girls released, they could interface with Boko Haram and they went smiling to the bank with all that money, and nothing happened. So you should understand why this government is being careful and the President has said the genuineness of the leadership of Boko Haram must be determined before any negotiation takes place.”
Adesina also defended the President on his stance regarding the bail granted former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and Biafra separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, saying Buhari’s position was that if they were no fresh charges against the men, they would be free to go.
Adesina said, ”Our president is a straight shooter, whatever is in his mind is what he tells you. He doesn’t believe in manipulating or any form of rigmarole. What he said was that those people had grievous charges against them, but then, he does not preclude bail, if there are no pending charges against them. The situation now is when bail is granted, before that bail is perfected, those who are prosecuting them would have come with fresh charges, which warrant their being held further. So, that is the position. If there are no fresh charges, and there is bail, there is no reason to hold them. But the truth is that there are fresh charges leveled against them.”
On the arrest of Col. Jafar Isa, an APC party member, by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Adesina said it only demonstrates that Buhari’s fight against corruption is impartial regardless of political affiliation.
“It means that in this corruption fight, there is no friend nor foe. One of the quickest ways for President Buhari to lose confidence in anybody is for that person to be tarred with the brush of corruption, and if proven to be true, you are on your own. All those who have said he is selective, it is because they do not know him. We know how much he detests corruption, and if any case is proven against anybody, no matter how close the person is, no matter how high ranking, that person will answer for it”.
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