Jonathan Secured The Release Of Some Chibok Girls, But Dasuki Advised Against Publicity – Abati
The Oasis Reporters
August 18, 2018
Three years after leaving office, more light is being thrown on the back channel deals that occurred during the Jonathan administration. One of them was the painful ordeal of the kidnap of the Chibok school girls.
It now turned out that President Jonathan actually worked diligently to secure their release and indeed got some released, but outside security circles, nobody heard about that.
There was a reason for this.
Reuben Abati former media spokesman to
President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this on Wednesday during a show he anchored on ARISE TV, that Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), then National Security Adviser advised the government against making the information public, ostensibly to protect the identities of the freed girls. So Jonathan took some insults and much more flak smiling and refusing to defend himself before the public, yet he was pressing the right buttons.
Abati interviewed Femi Adesina, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, on the show.
Abati urged Adesina to confirm the information from the Department of State Services (DSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
He said: “There was headway. We rescued many of the girls but the advice from the NSA at the time was that we should not publicise it because of the identities of those girls. I witnessed it on many occasions. Those girls were brought to the president.
“He met with them. In fact, some of them were sent to schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. There were strict instructions not to publicise it because government thought that the identities of those girls should not be exposed. But l saw you guys making a dance out of the ones you rescued.
“In our time, we rescued some girls but we were under strict instruction not to publicise it. Check the records. The DSS, the intelligence agency, you should ask them. They will have the records.”
Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno state on April 14, 2014.
While 163 of the girls have been returned, over 100 are believed to be in the custody of the terrorist group with some thought to be dead.
Additional reporting from The Cable.
