Nigerians should interrogate the relationship between MEND, Boko Haram and Buhari, says Fani-Kayode
Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has called on
Nigerians and members of the international community to interrogate the
relationship between Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND)
as well as Boko Haram and the All Progressives Congess (APC) with its
presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Fani-Kayode made the call yesterday in Abuja against the backdrop of the
purported endorsement by MEND of General Buhari's presidential candidacy
on the APC platform.
He said when accosted by journalists that Buhari's comments about
insurgency in Nigeria were worrisome and that his endorsement by MEND, a
discredited militia group, should also give Nigerians and the
international community great concerns.
The PDP Presidential Campaign spokesperson said with the way events are
curiously unfolding, it would not come as a surprise if Boko Haram group
equally publicly endorses General Buhari and the APC.
According to him, “it is important for Nigerians to take another look at
General Buhari's comments about Boko Haram and the way he has encouraged
Boko Haram group.
“It is on public record that Buhari had announced to the whole world that
it was unfair and unjust for the Boko Haram to be tackled.had killed over
20,000 innocent Nigerians, mostly women and children, after burning their
homes and destroying their communities.
“It is also on record that Buhari has severally and consistently
criticized government for protecting Nigerians against the attacks of Boko
Haram and has gleefully announced that government forces shiuld stop
attacking th Boko Haram, and in fact, should treat them like the Niger
Delta militants; in other words, rehabilitate them, grant them amnesty and
pay them every month, concluding that any attack on the Boko Haram sect
was a declaration of war on the people of Northern Nigeria.”
This, according to Fani-Kayode, brings us to the question of the true
nature of Buhari's relationship with these terrorist group and its
international affiliates.
He further stated that the APC's presidential spokesperson, Lai Mohammed,
whom he described as a friend, had supported Buhari by stating that the
proscription of Boko Haram by Federal Government after they had murdered
20,000 Nigerians in cold blood was unjust and unconstitutional.
“I think it is relevant and something of interest for all Nigerians and
the members of the international community to begin to ask questions about
the nexus between Boko Haram, MEND and all these terrorist organizations
that find it easy to kill people and the leading opposition presidential
candidate and the APC.
“This is the question Nigerians should seek answers to because insecurity
is one of the fundamental issues of the campaign for the office of
president and Nigerians must be wary of any person seeking to be president
and has such public sympathy for terrorist organisations in spite of the
obvious damages that they inflicted on the country,” he said.
Fani-Kayode also said that the disclosure on Thursday by President
Goodluck Jonathan that some Nigerians hired MEND leader, Henry Okah, who
masterminded the October 1, 2015, to kill him was not late in coming.
According to him, “I think it is better late than never; perhaps if it has
been exposed at that time, the implications would have been not so good
because it would have created more tension in the land.
“The most important thing is that this is a government and a president
that is quite open that tells Nigerians what they ought to know at the
right time. There is no question about the fact on October 1 on that
particular year, there was a bomb; the president was meant to actually
appear at that venue, but luckily for him and luckily for us, he did not
turn up there and this bomb went off and people were killed.
“It is self-evident even from those facts alone that it was an attempt on
the president; people could have put two and two together at that time and
got four. It wasn't really for the president to say so but now, it is
relevant simply because this same organization that wanted to kill your
president, our president, the president of the leading nation of the
African continent and the president of the nation that is seen by many as
the hope of the black man on the planet, four years later that same
organization is endorsing General Buhari, a man that wants to take his
seat. You put two and two together, it becomes four; it doesn't become
five and I will let you work out what is going on.”
Reacting to the swipe taken at him by his counterpart in the APC
Presidential Campaign Organisation, Malam Garba Shehu that he was
attacking the person of Buhari rather than focusing on issues, Fani-Kayode
said it was not in Sheu's place to teach him how to do his job.
According to him, “It is not for the spokesperson of the APC or the
spokesman of the presidential campaign of General Buhari to tell me what
to do or how to do my job. I would do my job the way I see fit.
“I believe General Buhari himself is an issue. He is just one of the many
issues because you have a man that has told the world his intentions for
Nigeria, whether it will be that he wants to spread Sharia throughout the
country, whether it would be he wants to tamper with the secularity of the
state, whether it would be that he believes that Moslem should only vote
for Moslems, whether it would be that he believes that an attack on Boko
Haram is an attack on the North.”
END
The post Nigerians should interrogate the relationship between MEND, Boko Haram and Buhari, says Fani-Kayode appeared first on Pointblank News .