Isn’t it amazing that Ex-President hasn’t said anything since Chibok Girls were released?
Former President Jonathan hasn't uttered a word since the Chibok Girls were rescued. We are concerned on his behalf
Buhari, Abubakar and Jonathan
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![Senate President, Godswill Akpabio [puo reports]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Senate President, Godswill Akpabio [puo reports]")
The immediate reaction from the Jonathan administration was one of denial.
The girls hadn’t been kidnapped...they were being used as a political tool by the opposition APC at the time, administration talking heads said in not so many words.
So, where immediate rescue operations were needed, Team Jonathan treated the abduction of the girls as a non-issue--one to be avoided with a ten foot pole.
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The body language from Jonathan himself was instructive in the first few months--he wouldn’t address the abduction publicly and made sure to keep the campaigners calling for rescue operations, at bay.
Weeks after the abduction of the girls, then First Lady Patience Jonathan appeared before the cameras to drown the Villa in a sea of tears; a handkerchief in hand.
But no one was buying the staged meltdown.
Na only she bin waka come.
21 of the Chibok schoolgirls were released last week after months of intense negotiations—some of which began under Jonathan, it has to be said.
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But amazingly, the man on whose watch the girls were kidnapped, hasn’t found it worth his time to say anything concerning the release.
No, Jonathan didn't suddenly lose his voice after leaving office. The man has spoken about his role (or non-role) in the alleged diversion of arms procurement funds by erstwhile National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki. Jonathan has found his voice outside of Nigeria’s shores, where he’s become an international public speaker, garlanded and feted for his part in furthering democracy on the continent.
Jonathan has been an election observer on the continent; the reward of making a concession phone call after getting a near drubbing at the ballot.
A few days ago, as a bomb went off in Maiduguri, there was Jonathan to remind us all he still cares:
“My heart goes out to all those who lost loved ones to the bomb blast in Maiduguri. I urge Nigerians to support the Federal Government to rid Nigeria of terrorism”, Jonathan said in a tweet issued on October 12, 2016.
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On October 13, 2016, barely 24 hours after, news of the release of the 21 girls found its way into the media. Two of the girls had been rescued months ago.
Jonathan has remained silent through it all.
A deafening, worrying, pin drop silence. One you could draw plenty of inferences from. But you shouldn't.
This isn’t just another Nigerian out there. Here’s the man who was C-in-C when the abduction happened.
Not that it matters to the relieved families of some of the girls, but ‘statesmen’ and ‘heroes’ shouldn’t go all quiet at times like this.
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