Buhari Not Boko Haram Ally, Can’t Represent Group Of Congress for Progress Change (CPC)

The Congress for Progress Change (CPC) on Friday stated in strong terms that its presidential candidate in the 2011 election, General Muhammadu Buhari, was never an ally of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram and as such, is not in a position to represent the group as requested by a man who claimed to be a member of the sect on Thursday.

The man, who identified himself as Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, in a telephone conference with journalists in Maduguri, Borno State capital, said the group is requesting as one of the conditions for peace and ceasefire that Buhari should mediate on its (Boko Haram) behalf in a proposed peace parley between the sect and the Federal Government.

Not only that, the man also stated that the group wants former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherrif arrested and prosecuted and compensation paid for its members killed by security operatives.

Disturbed by the development, the National Chairman of CPC, Chief Tony Momoh in an interview with Saturday Independent described the development as attempt to rope Buhari into a crisis the Federal Government and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ) have already soiled its hands in.

“Which group of Boko Haram are you referring to know now? Is it the one in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, political Boko Haram or the religious extremists? Neither Buhari nor any member of our party has any link to Boko Haram. The PDP and its members are the ones disturbing the peace of the nation with the group,” Momoh said. “Buhari is not Boko Haram ally, so how can he represent their interest in any capacity? Buhari contested presidential election and was not satisfied with the outcome, we went to court and the judiciary pronounced Jonathan and PDP winner in error. We have accepted the verdict, despite the fact that we were never convinced that they won.

“What is playing out now is the desperate attempt by the PDP to deceive Nigerians and use Buhari as scapegoat to divert attention from their failures in the area of governance, corruption and betrayer of leadership trust dovetailing into absolute economic woes and maladministration. Let them go and find out the cause of Boko Haram and sort out themselves, we are not interested at all.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Rotimi Fasaskin went further to say in a statement, that, “as a party, we are convinced that this is the latest gambit in the desire of this organically corrupt PDP-led Federal Government in diverting the attention of the unsuspecting Nigerian public from the on-going massive looting of their common patrimony. Without any scintilla of equivocation, General Muhammadu Buhari has never been directly or remotely connected with any insurrection or insurgency against the Nigerian nation and her people.

According to him Buhari “remains the quintessential patriot that continues to magnetize the very best across the ethno-religious boundaries within the Nigerian nation-space. As we have stated in an earlier communication, the PDP, as a corporate entity, is the harbinger of the insecurity travails of the Nigerian people for the sole reason of ensuring perpetuity in governance.”

He averred that from the events of the last two years, there are three variants of Boko-Haram “the original Boko-Haram that is at daggers drawn with the Nigerian authority for the extra-judicial killing of their leader. The criminal Boko-Haram that is involved in all criminality for economic reasons and of course, the most lethal of all, the political Boko-Haram, which this PDP-led Federal government represents.

“The President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had once alerted the nation of the ubiquitous presence of Boko-Haram in his government- a fact aptly amplified by his erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA), General Andrew Azazi. Undoubtedly, the latest revelations by the State Security Services (SSS) on the complicity of the top echelon of the PDP leadership in Boko Haram activities aptly bear testimony to the noxious subterfuge to extirpate the essence of our nationhood.”

He then called on Nigerians to reject what he described as a deceptive ploy by the PDP-led government and demand for more transparency in the governance of the nation stressing that “as a party, we remain unfazed by the cheap propagandist endeavours of the PDP knowing that Nigerians are the best judge of the under-performance of this regime.”

Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force (JTF), in Maiduguri on Friday announced the death of retired General Muhammadu Shuwa at the hands of suspects believed to be Boko Haram members.

In a press statement by its spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, JTF said the general was shot in his house by four men who were initially thought to have been his guests for the Juma,at prayers. They entered the house and opened fire on the general and his visitors.

“One of the guests died on the spot while the general died on the way to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital,” the statement said.

JTF said its troops immediately cordoned off the area and that a search for the assailants was underway.