•It’s a rumour –Presidency
President Goodluck Jonathan has shelved his planned visit to Chibok,
Borno State where Boko Haram insurgents abducted more than 200 girls
from the Government Secondary School over a month ago.
The president has come under harsh criticisms from local and international media as well as rights activists who have been staging protests in all parts of the country and the world over what they describe as his slow response to the plights of the teenage girls in captivity.
Reports in local and international media on Thursday however indicate that President Jonathan will visit Chibok on Friday to have a first hand assessment of the security situation in the remote town and identify with the distressed families of the abducted girls.
By Friday morning, it was learnt that the president has cancelled the visit allegedly for security reasons, a development the presidency roundly denied.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati
through his twitter handle @abati1990 described the planned visit as a rumour. He said, “every trip by the President is usually pre-announced. The Presidency did not at any time announce a trip to Chibok today (Friday). Ignore rumours.
The statement issued by my office yesterday (Thursday) indicated very clearly that the President is scheduled to travel to Paris today (Friday). It is therefore wrong and malicious to allege that a non-existent trip has been cancelled.”
The denial is coming even as facts emerged that an advanced team for presidential movement had on Thursday departed Abuja for Maiduguri ahead of the president’s visit.
While the President’s foreign trips are usually announced, his local trips are never announced. The news about President Jonathan’s trip to Chibok, a month after the girls were abducted were first reported by international media including BBC, CNN, Reuters and AFP.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, on the canceled Chibok visit, Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe, said there was no official statement that Mr. President would be going to Chibok
Responding if he was saying that there was no time for the president to go to Chibok and see the family of the abducted girls, he said “this is a war, we are in a war zone. Chibok is right in the middle of the war, so the timing of the commander in chief has to be strategic and security wise. This is a war situation, it is a very serious situation. Some of soldiers were coming from Chibok and were ambushed and some killed. We are dealing with maniacs and very terrible militia gang, they have got anti-aircraft guns, and they have got all sorts of things. The visit of Mr. President must be something that is cleared by security.”
The president has come under harsh criticisms from local and international media as well as rights activists who have been staging protests in all parts of the country and the world over what they describe as his slow response to the plights of the teenage girls in captivity.
Reports in local and international media on Thursday however indicate that President Jonathan will visit Chibok on Friday to have a first hand assessment of the security situation in the remote town and identify with the distressed families of the abducted girls.
By Friday morning, it was learnt that the president has cancelled the visit allegedly for security reasons, a development the presidency roundly denied.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati
through his twitter handle @abati1990 described the planned visit as a rumour. He said, “every trip by the President is usually pre-announced. The Presidency did not at any time announce a trip to Chibok today (Friday). Ignore rumours.
The statement issued by my office yesterday (Thursday) indicated very clearly that the President is scheduled to travel to Paris today (Friday). It is therefore wrong and malicious to allege that a non-existent trip has been cancelled.”
The denial is coming even as facts emerged that an advanced team for presidential movement had on Thursday departed Abuja for Maiduguri ahead of the president’s visit.
While the President’s foreign trips are usually announced, his local trips are never announced. The news about President Jonathan’s trip to Chibok, a month after the girls were abducted were first reported by international media including BBC, CNN, Reuters and AFP.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, on the canceled Chibok visit, Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe, said there was no official statement that Mr. President would be going to Chibok
Responding if he was saying that there was no time for the president to go to Chibok and see the family of the abducted girls, he said “this is a war, we are in a war zone. Chibok is right in the middle of the war, so the timing of the commander in chief has to be strategic and security wise. This is a war situation, it is a very serious situation. Some of soldiers were coming from Chibok and were ambushed and some killed. We are dealing with maniacs and very terrible militia gang, they have got anti-aircraft guns, and they have got all sorts of things. The visit of Mr. President must be something that is cleared by security.”
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