In 9ja: Borno State Government Upset Over Maltreatment Of Its Officials At The Presidency

(L-R) First Lady Mrs Jonathan, Governor Kashim Shettima, President GEJ

This issue is really getting out of hand. President GEJ actually believes that the abduction scandal is a grand scheme by the government of Borno State to undermine his administration.

 

Borno State Government officials are angry over an alleged “ill treatment” at the Presidential Villa in Abuja during last week’s invitation by President Goodluck Jonathan over the abduction of the school girls in Chibok.

In a protest letter signed by some of the officials, they expressed reservations over the manner they were treated by the presidency.

It would be recalled that on May 2, 2014, President Jonathan invited some government officials to the presidency including Governor Shettima, the Commissioner for Education, some security officials, the Principal of Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, the Chairman of Chibok LGA and the DPO of Chibok as well as the Chief Security Officer of the school.
According to the protest letter, upon their arrival at the Villa on Saturday May 3, President Goodluck Jonathan personally interrogated the officials from 9pm to 2:00 am as if all the official information relayed to him by his security apparatus in Borno were meaningless, unreliable and suspicious.

“At the end of the interrogation, President Goodluck Jonathan (with the exception of Governor Shettima) handed over the officials to the Inspector General of Police with  clear instructions to do his job. The officials were driven to the Force Headquarters where they were detained and made to make written statements on how the girls were abducted and later released on bail on self recognition as if they were directly or indirectly responsible for the abduction of their own children.

“The following Sunday May 5, they were again taken to the Villa at 5pm for further interrogation and this time by the first lady Dame Patience Jonathan. While at the villa, they remained standing for four hours after which they were ushered in into the first lady’s chambers where they were treated to verbal assaults as to the veracity of their claims on how the school girls were abducted,” the letter said.

HBC: The President should control the situation well. Now that Shekau/Boko Haram have claimed responsibility for the abduction, it clearly shows that he has behaved shamefully and needs to apologize to the officials. 

The First Lady on the other hand is overstepping her bounds. Interrogating government officials, summoning governors wives and actions like that are not her job as the first lady. She is taking up too much power for herself and that should be checked. No wonder the wife of Borno State Governor did not attend the last meeting she was summoned the First Lady.