Chibok Girls: APC Hits Jonathan Over Response To Cameron, Accuses Him Of ‘Habitual Negligence’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former president Goodluck Jonathan of ‘habitual negligence’ while backing former British prime minister, David Cameron’s claim that the ex-president mismanaged the kidnap of over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014.

Cameron in his new book, For the Record, accused Jonathan of “sleeping on the wheel” while the schoolgirls were being taken away by the terrorists.

The former UK prime minister also alleged that the UK’s offer to assist with the girls’ rescue was rejected by the former president’s administration.

Jonathan had in reaction said, “It is quite sad that Mr Cameron would say this because nothing of such ever occurred. As President of Nigeria, I not only wrote letters to then Prime Minister David Cameron, I also wrote to the then US President, Barrack Obama, and the then French President, François Hollande, as well as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appealing to them for help in rescuing the Chibok Girls,” Mr Jonathan said in a statement which he published on his Facebook page, Saturday afternoon.

He added, “I will not be the first person to accuse him [Cemeron] of lying on account of this book, and with the reactions in the UK so far, I definitely will not be the last.”

But reacting, the ruling APC suggested that Jonathan shouldn’t have bothered to respond to or deny Cameron’s allegations as he indeed allegedly failed to promptly rescue the kidnapped girls, of whom over 100 are still in captivity.

“Nigerians already know the story of Jonathan’s habitual negligence to matters of state. The Chibok schoolgirls abduction and his “sleeping behind the wheel” is not a story to deny as it is already part of our national history. We may disagree on a number of issues in Nigeria, but there is a national consensus on the fact that PDP elevated corruption to a national culture,” the party said in a statement by its national spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu.

“Denying or arguing against the truth is not going to change anything at this stage. The stories of outlandish corrupt practices under the PDP are still unraveling.

“What is important now is Jonathan explaining to the families of the abducted schoolgirls why as president, he did nothing for two weeks after the Chibok abductions and still refuses to take responsibility for the tragedy up till now — except he continues to blame the Chibok abductions and other failings of his administration on the so-called grand conspiracy against him as he laboriously tries to state in his response to Cameron.

The APC further alleged that the Jonathan administration was corrupt and that “corruption hallmarked the successive 16 years administrations under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is shameful that anyone is even defending it. Corruption is PDP’s political ideology. This fact is already cast in stone. Nigerians do not need Cameron or anyone else to tell us how corrupt and ineffectual the PDP era was.”