Politics
Botched Chibok Trip: Riding In The Storm
“Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creature of men
-Benjamin Disraeli
Until April 14, 2014,
Chibok, a subsurb community of about 90 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, was perhaps not known by many people outside the state capital or better still the North East geo-political zone of the country.
But the unfortunate incident of April 14 rather opened another window in the history of Chibok, where a government secondary school is sited. Like the history of many communities, the unfortunately circumstance that played out in Chibok and eventually lifted the Borno community to what many called a national embarrassment or a slap on the nation’s security, was better imagined than experienced.
No fewer than 200 girls of the secondary school were abducted by Islamic militants of Boko Haram sect; a situation which Borno State governor described as, “a dark era in the history of insurgency in the state.”
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are under emergency rule as a result of terrorist attacks that have claimed many lives. Though, the actual number of the girls in the den of the abductors is still not certain, days and weeks came by, but there was no report where the girls were camped. This perhaps heightened the fear that all may not be well with the abducted girls, more so with unconfirmed reports that they were allegedly being raped, abused and enslaved by Boko Haram gunmen.
Just as the security personnel continued to comb the forest for the abducted girls without success, parents and well-meaning Nigerians, most of whom went into fasting for divine intervention, demanded for the release of the female students. The nationwide protests by labour and civil society groups added a new dimension to the unfortunate incident, coming on the heels of the arrival of foreign anti-terrorism experts to assist in the ongoing search and rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.
United States of America (USA), which had earlier predicted the disintegration of Nigeria by 2015, saw the Boko Haram terrorists attacks as an opportunity to act the Big Brother role of protecting Nigeria from terrorist insurgency. Britain, Israel and few other nations reportedly offered their counter-terrorism experts to carry out the surgical operations of the cancerous growth at the neck of our dear country; a price, which is still shrouded in secrecy.
There was optimism in many quarters that with the international community deploying its considerable military and intelligence-gathering skills and assets in support of Nigeria’s efforts at fighting terrorism, success was in sight. But as weeks went by with no hope of the abducted girls being released, hopelessness and betrayal became the mood of most Nigerians with several accusations of the Presidency being incapable of steering the ship of the nation.
As the riddle of the Chibok girls abduction remains unsolved, Nigerians woke up to the claims and counter-claims about President Jonathan’s aborted trip to Chibok, apparently designed to reinforce confidence on Nigerians on his administration’s ability and capacity to fight Boko Haram insurgency to a stand still.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) took the President and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the cleaners and the latter replied not without casting aspersions on the former’s alleged plan to pull down the President or discredit his actions and programmes.
APC, yearning for change in the political landscape of the country, believed that Jonathan’s aborted visit to Chibok betrayed Nigerians who voted him into office. In a statement in Lagos, APC Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, accused Jonathan of bungling the fight against the sect as well as exhibited cluelessness in handling the abduction of the school girls.
As if that was not strong enough to pull the carpet off the feet of Jonathan, APC added that the President’s action, “deepened the pains of the parents and guardians of the girls and indeed that of the whole nation, when he should have been the consoler-in-chief at such a difficult time for a nation he leads.”
Side by side with that discredit, APC noted that Jonathan threw away to the winds the chance of redeeming the battered global image of his administration in handling the abduction of the school girls.
APC’s reaction to Jonathan’s alleged aborted Chibok visit, no doubt, suggests that the President, who is afraid to visit a crisis zone, cannot lay claim to being a Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Importantly, APC’s presentation of garment of shame on the Jonathan administration is not ignorant of the fact that its supporters are likely to decode such message with partisan lens and operationalise their stand for a change in Nigeria.
But the ruling PDP refused to be taken to the gallows as a sacrificial lamb. Jonathan’s spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, discountanced the report that Jonathan refused or cancelled the visit to Chibok.
According to him, there was no plan on the itinerary of the President to visit Chibok even when it was widely reported that the president’s advanced team had landed in Borno State.
Wondering how the Press may have carried the report of the president’s visit to Chibok, Abati believed that it might be the handiwork of mischief makers.
If Reuben Abati was economical with his defence and explanation, Special Adviser on Media to the Rivers State PDP Chairman, Jerry Needam, was not. He took the prosecutor’s bread back to the prosecutor. In an attempt to unmask what he called “APC’s self righteousness and political glory,” Needam said the opposition party’s action was only intended to nail PDP and the President to the wall for the populace to see.
“We know the stock in trade of APC. We are not unaware that APC is all out to pull the President down or discredit his actions”, “Needam said.
According to him, APC cannot justify what he called the “noise” it was making about the Chibok girls side by side the fact that both the Borno State Governor (Shettima) and the government are of APC stock. “Who is fooling who?,” he asked.
Rather than shift the goal post, Needam said Shettima and APC have the moral burden to tell Nigerians what happened at Chibok especially against the backdrop that the Borno State governor reportedly directed the students to sit their WAEC examination at Chibok against security advice of the examination body and the Federal Ministry of Education.
It may not be a matter of who is right or wrong in the alleged aborted Chibok visit by Mr President, if Nigerians realise that in security matters, one plus one is not usually two.
While the botched Chibok visit rides in the storm, Nigerians are unanimous that the abduction of the Chibok girls should be devoid of politics, and if we must play politics, it must be done objectively.
Surely, the last may not have been heard about the abduction of the Chibok girls, but making a mincemeat out of it amounts to a show of shame for Nigeria and Nigerians when the citizens should be united irrespective of party affiliation in the war to free the nation from the clutches of terrorists.
Samuel Eleonu
Abducted students of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.