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| Dino Melaye |
A former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, has accused a former Aviation Minister, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, of making hasty comments on alleged Boko Haram sponsors.
The activist said Fani-Kayode’s accusation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with alleged connection with the sect was hasty, indecent and unconscionable.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Melaye said: “Mr. Fani-Kayode’s stout defence of an alleged Boko Haram sponsor, as identified by the Goodluck Jonathan administration-appointed negotiator, Stephen Davis, and his attempt to continue pointing fingers at my party, the APC, is hasty, indecent and unconscionable.
“The last time I checked, Mr. Fani-Kayode was not a duly-constituted independent commission of enquiry 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 Peoples Democratic Party (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 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 enquiry into the allegation, instead of rushing to shoot it down and casting aspersion on the man who made the revelation on an international television station.
“In the rush to discredit Dr. Davis, the Jonathan administration and its attack dogs have forgotten that the President himself appointed the Australian to negotiate the release of the Chibok schoolgirls, who were abducted by Boko Haram. They have forgotten that if at all the negotiator has any sympathy, it would 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 who 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 that they could 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 accepted that they had 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!”
Also, Lagos lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the Federal Government to prosecute those sponsoring Boko Haram insurgents.
In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Falana advised the government to refer those linked with the insurgency to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.
The frontline lawyer said the allegations against them were too weighty to be ignored.
He said: “In view of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect, President Goodluck Jonathan should refer the suspects to the Special Prosecutor of the international Criminal Court.
“Any local investigation conducted by the Federal Government, in the circumstance, may be manipulated by vested political interests.”
Falana recalled that the international negotiator, Rev. Stephen Davies, who President Jonathan engaged for dialogue with the Boko Haram sect for the release of the abducted 275 Chibok schoolgirls, revealed the identities of the sponsors of the terrorist organisation.
He said: “In a well publicised televised interview in London last week, the international negotiator said a former Borno State governor, a former Chief of Army Staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provided funds and other logistics to the nihilist body for the terrorist attacks which have claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in the country.”
Falana noted that the disclosure was backed with some detailed accounts, which confirmed some information with Nigeria’s security forces.
The lawyer also recalled that the Ambassador Usman Galtimari Committee on Insurgency in the Northeast, which was set up in 2011 by President Jonathan, recommended the prosecution of “some politicians, who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram”.
He said: “In a White Paper issued on the report of the committee, the Federal Government accepted the recommendation and directed ‘the National Security Adviser (NSA) to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved’.
“Although the White Paper was published in May 2012, the directive of the Federal Government has not been carried out up till now because the individuals involved are said to be connected to the Presidency…”
Via The NATION
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