Nigeria's opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), today argued and described as callous, morbid and insensitive, the statement credited to presidential flag bearer of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan, that the Chibok girls are still alive because Boko Haram would have displayed their bodies if they had been killed.
The opposition party in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed maintained that it found the comment “deeply offensive to human sensibilities” instead of providing hope and succour for the traumatised parents of the girls.
The statement further posited that, "A key role of Presidents everywhere in times of tribulations and tragedies was to offer hope and be the Consoler-in-Chief, not to make statements that would deepen the suffering and sorrow of victims.
"One would have expected a President to speak on the basis of actionable intelligence, not some "twisted, melancholic and offensive logic.
"The statement played on the fears of the parents of the girls and indeed of all Nigerians concerning the fate of the girls, who had been held in captivity for over 300 days, with an impotent government unable to rescue them.
"All that the parents of the girls as well as all concerned people around the world had wanted to know was what the Jonathan Administration was doing to bring the girls home safely and as soon as possible, not a depressing statement about their bodies being displayed via a video by Shekau if they had been killed."
APC charged President Jonathan to toe the line of his Chadian counterpart, "Who came across as being very presidential in his comments on Shekau, when he said, It is in Abubakar Shekau’s interest to surrender, we know where he is. If he refuses to give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his comrades.
"The Shekau that President Deby was referring to is the same Shekau that the Jonathan-led administration claimed to have killed at least twice, and the same Shekau the same administration is now seeking to capture alive.
"Mr. President (Jonathan), how many Shekaus do you want to kill or capture? Or is there a Shekau that is known only to your administration?"
Photo credit: InformationNigeria
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