Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode’s stout defence of an alleged Boko Haram sponsor,
as identified by the Jonathan Administration-appointed negotiator
Stephen Davis, and his attempt to continue pointing accusing fingers
at my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is hasty, indecent
and unconscionable.
The last time I checked, Mr. Fani-Kayode was not a duly-constituted
independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the allegations by
the Negotiator. One therefore wonders how he could so quickly
exonerate any of those who were fingered by Dr. Davis purely on the
basis of sheer sentiments, as well as unbridled hatred for the APC
What Mr. Fani-Kayode’s desperate moves have shown is that the
earth-shaking revelation by President Jonathan’s Negotiator has
unnerved his party, the PDP, and the Administration. It has shown the
veracity of the saying that when you point one finger at someone, four
others are pointing at you.
The sponsors of Boko Haram are right within the PDP, as alleged by Dr.
Davis, who named former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and ”a former
Chief of Army Staff who retired in January, rightly sacked by the
President.” This has corroborated what the President had said that
Boko Haram is right within his own Administration.
What one would expect from a government that is keen on finding the
true sponsors of Boko Haram and ending the insurgency – instead of
playing politics with it – is to support an independent inquiry into
the allegation, instead of rushing to shoot it down and casting
aspersion on the man who made the revelation on international
television.
In the rush to discredit Dr. Davis, the Jonathan Administration and
its attack dogs have forgotten that President Jonathan himself
appointed the Australian to negotiate the release of the Chibok girls,
who were abducted by Boko Haram. They have forgotten that if at all
the Negotiator has any sympathy, it will be for President Jonathan who
appointed him.
I am glad that the truth about Boko Haram’s sponsors has finally come
out. I advise the Jonathan Administration to look inwards instead of
unleashing attack dogs on Dr. Davis and sending spin doctors, some of
whom will do anything to evade justice over the allegation they face
on their own, to the media to try to change the narratives.
Those who planted Modu Sheriff in the APC so they can label the party
a Boko Haram sponsor knew what they were doing. They knew his
antecedents. And when the APC decided to frustrate Modu Sheriff and
his likes out of the party, they should simply have embraced him and
accept that they have finally been hoisted by their own petard.
Enough of the distracting finger-pointing by the likes of the
loquacious and truth-twisting Mr. Fani-Kayode. The cat has been let
out of the bag!
Hon Dino Melaye
Abuja, Aug. 31, 2014
