The venue was Sheu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
Borno State governor and Chairman at the occasion, Kashim Shettima, identified fuel subsidy scandal, the Boko Haram insurgency and the general feeling of insecurity particularly with the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, amongst factors that led to the defeat of a sitting president which he noted was unprecedented in the history of the country.
The Borno state governor further noted that the kidnapping of about 276 students of Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok , Borno State, on the night of 14–15 April 2014, actually contributed to the defeat of the erstwhile ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in the 2015 general elections.
Governor Shettima who is the chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum expressed regret that the former President was hoodwinked to believe that the abduction of the students was a mere ruse. Speaking further he declared that following international community outcry over the abduction, Dr Jonathan was made to believe that he (Governor Shettima) was the mastermind of the kidnapping to embarrass the federal government.
He said: ‘’ “When the Chibok girls saga started, they made the president to believe that there was no abduction; that the Chibok girls were kidnapped by the governor of Borno state ostensibly to embarrass the Jonathan administration and he believed that line of the story.
“I was in Chibok, my wife was in Chibok and there was a global outcry on the issue but Jonathan was in a world of his own created by the clowns and also the misfits around him. “I wasn’t invited to Abuja until nearly three weeks later and even when I was invited to Abuja, I was quite thrilled that at last, I was getting the attention of my leader. I was asked to come along with Commissioner of Police, the Divisional Police Officer in Chibok, the Commissioner of Education, the Military Commander in Chibok and the
Director of DSS in Borno.
‘’We were all ushered into the Villa. Sadly, when the president came in, he was still in that mood. He started threatening the school principal that she should tell them where the girls were. ‘Principal, you must tell me where the girls are. Commissioner of Police, you have to tell me’.
‘’He immediately ordered for the arrest of the principal, the DPO, Commissioner of Police and the Director of DSS, that they must produce the girls. In this very unfortunate saga, Mohammed Abubakar, the then IGP arrested them, took them to the Force Headquarters and informed them; ‘Lady and gentlemen, I cannot hurt you because I am a man of conscience.
I will let you go based on self-recognition.’ And they were released to go back to their duty posts but I was shocked, I was quite taken aback because I thought solutions were going to be found to a very serious national challenge, instead, the president was still of the mindset that those girls were not abducted and that goes to show the quality of leadership in this country.
‘’Incidentally, the Brigade Commander in Chibok, was an Ijaw man, one Capt. God knows. And because they know the president is such a very unsophisticated simpleton, he is such an honest man, they knew that if they had brought in the man, they would have gotten him confused. So, they deliberately refused to bring the Brigade Commander in Chibok and that made the president to lose a true perspective on the issues.
“But we have to give it to him, that by conceding defeat, he saved the nation from the precipice.’’ Governor Shettima offered a startling revelation about how the former president actually plotted to remove him as governor but was swayed to drop the move following legal opinions of former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, (SAN) and the former Minister of Special Duties, Taminu Turaki.
“There was a time he wanted to remove me at all costs. In the Federal Executive Council, they were all speaking in the same tone that this Borno governor must be removed for embarrassing the government; that I was the problem. Two Nigerians stood out.
“He sought the opinion of Mohammed Adoke Bello, the then Attorney General. Adoke told him that ‘Mr President, you have no power to remove even an elected councilor’. Then he sought the opinion of other Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN in his team, the Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki. And Turaki also told him that ‘Mr President,
you have no power to remove a sitting governor’. And that was how the matter died.
“If you look at Obasanjo, hate him or love him, you have to respect Obasanjo for not only believing in the Nigerian project but by surrounding himself with men of quality. If you mention Obasanjo, the names that literally come to mind are those of Oby Ezekwesili, Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Nasiru el-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Bukola Saraki and other quality Nigerians who had the capacity to add value to the system.
“And Obasanjo, take it or leave it, among those people, the only Yoruba person among them was Femi Otedola and he was not even deep in the power circuit. But when you think of President Jonathan with all due respect, he surrounded himself with an assorted crop of religious bigots, tribal kindred and all sorts of reactionary elements. Ateke Tom, Government Tompolo, late Oronto Douglas, Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, Ayo Oritsejafor and others.
“And because he is such an honest man, recently, he confided in Sen. Ben Bruce that his major undoing was his poor relationship with the Borno governor. That is GEJ for you. We are wishing him the best of luck in his retirement years. He can redeem himself by serving God and humanity, by serving Africa. We are wishing him all the best.’’
Also in his remarks, Senate President, Bukola Saraki said the former
president was indifferent to corruption allegations which were brought to his notice. Senator Saraki offered a stunning account of his private meeting with the former president to express concern over the pilfering of public fund in the name of payment of oil subsidy and how the latter dismissed his concern in a jocular manner.
‘’I like to share one or two things that will probably summarize the former President Jonathan. I remember when I was then-Senator and I came across this issue of fuel subsidy and the way the country was losing close to about N1.3 trillion. ‘’ In the history of this country, I don’t think of any singular kind of level of corruption as huge as that. I had a motion already, I wanted to present on the floor of the Senate. I felt as a member of
the ruling party at that time, it was only proper I discussed it with the President (first) maybe some action could be taken so that I stepped down the motion.
‘’ I booked an appointment to see Mr. President, I went with my paper, I started with the background of how people bring in petroleum products. I said Mr. President, in the past people, used to get award letters from NNPC to bring in Premium Motor Spirit, (PMS) Dual Purpose Kerosene, (DPK) and make ten, twenty per cent profit. I said sir, they’ve taken it to another level, now, they get an order to bring in products they don’t want to make ten, twenty per cent anymore. They will get an offer to bring in a cargo of 20,000 litres they will bring
in 5,000 to be stamped for 20,000 and instead of making ten percent, they make ten times the amount.
‘’ I was telling the President thinking the President will get very agitated, he said, ‘Senator Saraki, you know this oil business is very oily.’ I was stunned and taken aback but in a way, that was Jonathan in a sad way that was who he is.
‘’And if you look at the second encounter I will recollect was the day I decided I am going to contest to be President. I felt that I didn’t want Jonathan to hear it as news, I booked an appointment to go and see him- I didn’t know what I was thinking that day. I went to the Villa he said ‘come in, come in, how can I help you? I looked at the President of a third world country and said, Mr. President, I came to tell you that I am going to be contesting for your seat. Jonathan looked at me and said ‘oh, okay, good luck, good luck.’ If it were any other person maybe I would not have left the Villa but that again sums up Goodluck Jonathan.
I think it is we Nigerians that produce the kind of leaders we get. No matter what you say about him, I don’t think he was someone who was desperate for power, he was not someone that was prepared for leadership, yes by misfortune or fortune I keep on saying, we all know the right things but we don’t do it, we find ourselves sometimes blaming individuals blaming others than ourselves.’’
One of the book reviewers, Professor Adigun Agbaje, lauded the author for his courage in giving a vivid, insider’s account of what transpired during the uncertain Jonathan years.
‘’He has done very well in bringing to the limelight, the roles of men and women of power, who would have preferred invincibility and silence over their individual roles in the abuse of power.
‘’The book has captured for posterity, roles of wielders of power in an accurate and timely manner.’’ Professor Agbaje challenged those not comfortable with Mallam Abdullahi’s account to make efforts to present their own story.
Among dignitaries present at the event were national chairman of the APC, Odigie Oyegun, Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, former Speaker of House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’Abba, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi, amongst others.
It is unfortunate Shetimma allows hatred to blind his objectivity —Jonathan
Reacting, Jonathan, in a statement by his former media aide, Reno Omokri, said it was unfortunate Governor Shettima had allowed hatred to blind his objectivity.
Omokri, according to the statement, said “President Jonathan was not humiliated out of office. Sure, he lost the 2015 presidential election by two million votes. If that is what Governor Shettima means by humiliation, it must mean that he never understood what Dr Jonathan meant when he said ‘my ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian’.
“Could a person who was humiliated have called to concede while the votes were still being counted and yet to be declared?
It is the pettiness of Governor Shettima that has blinded him to the fact that by conceding so quickly, Jonathan became the ‘Face of Democracy in Africa’ as former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar described him.
“Hundreds of people died when other people lost elections, but no one died when Jonathan lost.”
The statement also said “I wonder if it was that bad governance that ensured elections held in every local government area in Borno in 2015. Governor Shettima is reminded that not only have the United Nations and other humanitarian aid groups pulled out of certain parts of Borno since Jonathan handed over power in 2015, but Boko Haram has now begun an upsurge even in Adamawa State. So much for the ‘technical defeat’ of Boko Haram.”
Speaking on Jonathan not having political sagacity, the statement asked: “Let me ask Governor Shettima if there was ever anything like ‘quit notice’, IPOB, nationwide herdsmen/farmers clash with impunity or 97 per cent versus five per cent under Jonathan?
“May I remind Governor Shettima who is now accusing Dr Jonathan of ‘tribal politics’ that when his state was struggling to cater for internally displaced persons, it was then President Jonathan who set up the Victims Support Fund and held a fund-raising dinner at the Presidential Villa, where private sector individuals and groups donated N58.79 billion to aid victims of Boko Haram terrorism and other humanitarian crisis.
“If Dr Jonathan was playing ‘tribal politics’, how come he did not hold such an event for the Niger Delta? Also, since Dr Jonathan raised those funds for the victims of terror from the private sector, has anyone been able to replicate what he did?”
It wondered why Shettima described Jonathan as “an unsophisticated simpleton,” adding that “I find it surprising that Nigeria’s economy became the largest economy in Africa and the third fastest growing economy in the world under a ‘simpleton’ but entered into a recession when the ‘simpleton’ left.”
He challenged Shettima to publish his West African Examinations Council (WAEC) results, adding that “the simpleton Jonathan made 7 As in his WAEC, aside his university results.”
The media aide also reminded Shettima that 24 hours after the Chibok kidnap, the former president held an emergency national security meeting, adding that “Governor Shettima is just being clever by half. He has forgotten that on April 2, 2016, he admitted in an interview to journalists that when the kidnap occurred, he did not call the president to inform him for two weeks.”
He concluded that Shettima could talk the way he did because Jonathan was no longer in office, adding that “when the current set of actors quit the scene, Governor Shettima will likewise direct his lying tongue at them.”
and then