According to a report by LEADERSHIP.COM
Despite denials from aides of President Goodluck Jonathan that he never made plans to visit Chibok, LEADERSHIP Weekend can confirm that the president actually made plans to visit Borno and Chibok but changed his mind hours before the trip.
Sources that confided in LEADERSHIP weekend said the presidency actually wrote an official letter to the Borno State government, intimating it of the visit and that Governor Kashim Shetima was in Borno preparatory to receiving the president when he later got a signal saying the president had changed his mind.
It was also gathered that the president’s advance team, including security and protocol team, arrived in Maiduguri on Thursday around noon, while the next day (Friday) they all assembled at the state headquarters of the State Security Service (SSS) from where they were to move to Chibok by 6am that Friday.
Even sources in Chibok, including parents of the abducted girls, were told to gather for the president’s visit.
Also, a senator from the state and some members of the House of Representatives confirmed to LEADERSHIP Weekend that they were told that the president would be coming to Chibok on Friday, and they also started making plans to be in Maiduguri so as to receive the president.
Even the road leading to the airport was lined with policemen as early as Friday in anticipation of the president’s visit before they were told that the visit has been concealed.
LEADERSHIP Weekend however gathered that security chiefs advised the president against going to Chibok due to security concerns and to avoid being embarrassed. They were said to have also cautioned that the visit may create controversies that could distort security measures already put on ground to rescue the abducted girls.
A source at the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) told our correspondent that the mob attack on the general officer commanding (GOC), 7 Division, in Maiduguri by some angry soldiers was also part of considerations that contributed to the security report which informed Jonathan’s cancellation of the trip.
Special adviser to the president on media and publicity Dr Reuben Abati, however, refuted reports widely published in the media on Friday that Jonathan was travelling to Chibok.
Abati twitted on his twitter handle: “Every trip by the President is usually pre-announced. The Presidency did not at any time announce a trip to Chibok today. Ignore rumours. The statement issued by my office yesterday indicated very clearly that the President is scheduled to travel to Paris today. It is therefore wrong and malicious to allege that a non-existent trip has been cancelled.”
While it has never been the tradition in the State House to announce any planned local trips, only foreign trips are announced a day before the president leaves the country.
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