‘It took 19 days for me to receive a call from Jonathan after the abduction’

by NEWS AGENCIES
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[su_dropcap]B[/su_dropcap]orno State Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday that ex- President Goodluck Jonathan did not call him for 19 days after the abduction of the Chibok girls, almost two years ago. He spoke yesterday when ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is on a two-day visit to the University of Maiduguri, visited him at the Government House.

According to The Nation, Shettima said Obasanjo would have handled the issue differently were he the president at that time.

“In our case, Your Excellency, after the Chibok abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014, it took 19 days for me to receive a call from the Presidency,” he said.

“I brought this mainly to show the difference, because we will only appreciate scenarios when we make comparisons.”

Shettima hailed Obasanjo for having a hands-on to issues when he was president. ”Someone even told me that as President, Baba Obasanjo had phone numbers of traditional rulers and resident heads of security establishments in states that were prone to crisis and he sometimes spoke with them directly to get firsthand information.

“Without crisis, he created time to call traditional rulers to make enquiries about communal stability, ethno-religious co-existence and community policing in order to forestall problems. In our case, Your Excellency, after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok in April, 2014, it took 19 days for me to receive a call from the Presidency. I brought this mainly to show the difference, because we will only appreciate scenarios when we make comparisons.”

Obasanjo, who arrived in Maiduguri about 11 am, visited Shettima at the Government House.

The governor said Monday’s visit was the former president’s first call at the Borno Government House since 1976.

Obasanjo, who praised the Borno State governor, urged the Federal Government to embark on detailed research to document the Boko Haram insurgency for posterity to learn from.

The ex-president hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts to end the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.

“I know that he (Buhari) is concerned about the insurgency. He has got it right that first of all there must be military ascendency over the insurgents,” he said.

“I do travel a lot in Africa and outside Africa. Where I have gone in recent times, what the people wanted to know is how Nigeria is coping with the situation of insurgency.

“I think we are not out of the woods yet, but it appears we can see the light beyond the tunnel,” Obasanjo said.