MURIC slams Atiku’s aide for accusing Shettima of aiding Boko Haram

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has lashed out at Phrank Shuaibu, an aide to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, for accusing Vice President Kashim Shettima of aiding Boko Haram insurgents during his tenure as governor of Borno State.

Shuaibu had, on September 8, accused Shettima of aiding the insurgents during his tenure, saying the former governor aided the abduction of Chibok girls in Borno State.

The MURIC Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in a statement issued on Monday, September 11, said the allegations were false and malicious.

Akintola stated: “We are confounded both by the weight and intensity of these allegations, particularly against a sitting vice president. They are false, malicious, odious, and insidious. They are simply lies from the pit of Jahannam.

“Somebody must have locked the medulla oblongata of Shaibu and thrown the key away, otherwise he would not turn the pages of history upside down the way he has just done. How could any rational being accuse VP Shettima of aiding Boko Haram?

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“It is on record that former President Goodluck Jonathan threatened to withdraw federal troops from Borno when Shettima as the state governor complained of a glaring lackadaisical approach from the federal government to the Boko Haram saga.

“He asked if Shettima would be able to stay in the government house if he withdrew federal troops.”

The MURIC director continued: “Jonathan’s exact words were, ‘I will pull them out for one month whether he (Shettima) will stay in that his Government House. But, if he thinks what he said is correct then I will pull out the armed forces for one month.

“Shettima had complained to the visiting president that Boko Haram was gaining the upper hand in the region because Nigerian soldiers are not well armed. But an angry Jonathan gave him the cold response above.

“It was more than a response. It was a threat. It was like, ‘Behave, or I will unleash them on you’.

“We affirm that Shettima’s complaint was meant to attract better equipment for Nigerian soldiers so that they would be able to confront Boko Haram fighters more effectively.

“We are of the humble opinion that a governor who is aiding the insurgents would not make such a request, instead, he would have joined the indifferent camp of looters of funds meant for the purchase of weapons for Nigerian soldiers. Shaibu’s allegation against VP Shettima is therefore frivolous, mischievous and lactiferous.

“Of course events later proved Shettima right as reports of the 2.1 million dollars arms fund investigation later revealed that indeed Nigerian soldiers were deprived of weapons and money meant to buy them was shared among Jonathan’s party men.”

The Star