In a shocking revelation, President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman Femi Adesina, revealed that a group of people approached the last government claiming they were representatives of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. They subsequently entered into negotiations and got the government to pay them large sums of money for the abducted girls but then disappeared after collecting the cash.
Over 200 pupils were abducted by Boko Haram from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in April 2014, when they were kidnapped from their boarding school in Borno State. An international campaign for their release put the government of Dr Jonathan under pressure and it appears that it resorted to desperate measures in a bid to get them their freedom.
According to Mr Adesina, in the process of negotiating with the fake sect leaders, the federal government was swindled out of millions of dollars before it realised that it had been deceived. Over recent weeks, it has emerged that millions of dollars earmarked to fight Boko Haram and fund the military campaign against terrorism went missing under the Jonathan regime.
This latest scandal comes on top of the ongoing $2.1bn saga under which former national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki was said to have diverted cash meant for the military to numerous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) officials and supporters. Numerous officials have been arrested as part of investigations into the scam and yesterday, the PDP has asked Dr Jonathan to come out and give his account of what happened.
Alhaji Abdulahi Jalo, the PDP's deputy publicity secretary, said the controversy surrounding the sharing of the money should have attracted the former president’s attention by now. He added that Dr Jonathan should tell Nigerians and the international community whether he authorised the sharing of the money meant to fight insurgency in the northeast in particular and the country as a whole.
According to Alhaji Jalo, all those who took part in the sharing of the money should be made to refund it. Among those who are currently being held by the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) in connection with the scam is Alhaji Jalo's boss, Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP's national publicity secretary.
Alhaji Jalo said: “As all of you know, no single kobo can be spent by the federal government without an act of the National Assembly. Money earmarked for arms purchase, some people diverted it to something else and so many people that you cannot even expect were involved but now, darkness has come to light.
“Jonathan is alive, so he should clarify whether he asked the national security adviser to divert money meant to fight Boko Haram into his campaign. I’m from the northeast and I know the terrible security situation our people are facing there."
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