The Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO), Fami Fani-Kayode has pointed accusing fingers at the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima for his alleged role in the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.
Speaking in a statement issued on Monday, March 9, 2015, Fani-Kayode said Governor Shettima ignored the security warnings he was severally given and allowed examinations to hold in the school.
He said: “The abducted Chibok schoolgirls would have been saved the ordeal to which they have been subjected these past 329 days had the governor taken the advice and acted in accordance with the security reports that the town was not safe for the examinations.”
Speaking further, the former Minister of Aviation said Governor Shetimma should be ready for prosecution once he is done from office and no more covered by immunity.
He said: “Shettima will not be governor forever and when he is no longer in office, his role in the Chibok affair would be investigated and, if found wanting, he would be prosecuted.”
The statement, which was issued in response to Governor Shettima’s verbal assault of Fani-Kayode was issued by his (Fani-Kayode’s) Special Assistant on Media, Sufuyan Ojeifo.
The statement read in parts: “The governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima is the most irresponsible, insensitive and callous governor in Nigeria. He is a wicked man whose mindset reflects the thinking of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC). He, more than anybody else, is responsible for the abduction of the Chibok girls.
“And he should bear full responsibility for it. The man should shut up and bow his head in shame because it was due to his irresponsibility as the chief security officer of Borno state that those little girls in Chibok were abducted, raped, sold into slavery and subjected to terror.
“The circumstances that led to the abduction of the innocent girls, who were writing their examination in an environment that was everything but secure, underscored the governor’s negligence.
“The governor must give account to God and to the Nigerian people for what he has done to those girls. We are accusing him of being responsible for the abduction of the Chibok girls because he was warned by the federal government and by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) not to allow the examination take place in Chibok.
“He ignored the warning and promised to guarantee security for those girls. When time came, the governor did not even deploy one policeman, let alone adequate security. He betrayed the girls; he set them up; he opened the door for them to be abducted by the Boko Haram and instead of asking for forgiveness and repenting of his wicked ways, he is talking nonsense.
“In any other country, this man would have been arrested and prosecuted for collaborating with Boko Haram. But here, in Nigeria, instead of him showing remorse, he went all over the world attacking the president and the federal government over the Chibok affair. Those he was speaking to did not know that he, more than anybody else, was responsible for the abduction of those girls.”
