Contrary to claims that former President Goodluck Jonathan failed to react immediately after the abduction of the Chibok School girls in 2014, former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has shown how he did.
According to her new book titled; “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous –The Story Behind the Headlines”, Jonathan had called her the following day of the kidnap.
She said the President told her that the insurgents had kidnapped a number of schoolgirls in Chibok but was yet to ascertain their numbers.
“When the President came to the phone, he sounded tired. It was easy to sense the fatigue in his voice. I told him what I had heard in Mexico and the reaction of the participants. The President confirmed that the kidnapping had happened, that they were still trying to determine with the state authorities exactly what happened, and that the total number of girls taken was still not known.”
She quoted Jonathan as saying, “CME, we must get those girls out alive. I don’t care what they say about me. But I don’t want those girls dead. We must get them back alive.”
Okonjo-Iweala also narrated her experience and the frustrations she encountered from some Governors and influential persons in the Country over saving for the rainy day even as her efforts were fully supported by both ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Jonathan.
Her book is set to be released later this month.
The new revelation by the former Minister would be contrary to what is widely believed and preached that Jonathan had reacted late after the abduction, even as those who have made the claims or suggested it, were influential and key players.
Governor Shettima
According to the Governor of Borno State, Ibrahim Shettima, when asked why he did not inform the President after the abduction, he said he did not call the President because he believed the Security operatives would have reached out to him about the development.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Communication, Isa Gusau, Shettima “had it on good authority that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was well briefed by security agencies soon after the abduction and this is to be expected given the magnitude and for the fact that as at that time, Borno was under a State of Emergency declared by the president, which made him directly in charge of security issues in Borno and happenings there”.
The Governor had then said President Jonathan called him 19 days after the abduction of the girls.
President Obasanjo
The Minister’s revelation also faults former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claims that Jonathan did not believe the girls were kidnapped.
According to Obasanjo, the Federal Government could have acted quickly when the news broke so as to save the innocent girls, but nothing was done.
“The President (Jonathan) did not believe that those girls were abducted for almost 18 days. If the President got the information within 12 hours of the act and he reacted immediately, I believe those girls would have been rescued within 24 hours, maximum 48 hours.
“The President had doubts: ‘Is this true, or is it a ploy by people who don’t want me to be President again?”
The book also debunks a number of comments made against the former President’s reaction to certain issues in the country.
