Jonathan’s Plan To Play ‘The Shekau Joker’ Before Elections Exposed?

Tension Mounts In Nigeria As Allegations Of Plans By The Jonathan Govt To Stage The Capture Of A ‘Fake’ Shekau And Frame Buhari Erupt In Blogosphere

To say that this cycle of elections in Nigeria is very interesting will be understating the obvious.
As the Nation holds it’s collective breath for the upcoming Presidential elections, the palpable tension in the polity seems to have been ratcheted up to another level with the new round of allegations of a mother of all jokers to be introduced by President Jonathan and the PDP just before the elections.
It is now all over the news sites that the Jonathan Government plans to tell Nigerians that it has captured the top Boko Haram Terrorist, Abubakar Shekau, just BEFORE the March elections to garner last minute supporters. Not only that, the story goes that the security forces will also introduce a self-confession by this Shekau that their sponsor all along is Muhammadu Buhari.
Here is an excerpt from a release by a member of an organization called CUPS, an NGO dedicated to enlightening people on corruption, misrule, tyranny, occupation, and genocide: “I have it on a strong ground that there is a plan to capture a Shekau before the week to elections. And the captured Shekau who is currently undergoing training on what to say and do will mention Buhari as one of their core sponsors. The target according to the source is to discourage Southern voters and the Northern Christians (from liking Buhari). The confession is alleged to be so perfectly planned that Buhari may even be arrested and even those who love him may think twice (about his sincerity). The sum of 4.5 billion Naira is purportedly budgeted. The purpose of this budget I am told is for bribing some Northern clerics so when the time comes, they will pacify their followers (to reject Buhari as he is BoKo Haram sponsor). There will purportedly be audio of phone calls (between Buhari and the Boko Haram leaders). Buhari will not be able to sue the government since it will be an arranged confession of a captured terrorist. Now, I am not saying this (leak) is true. But knowing how desperate these PDP people are, they can do just anything to get Buhari out of the way. Honestly, I am deeply, deeply, deeply, worried. In fact, I am troubled. Kindly share this and let the world know about this evil machination of the PDP before it is too late. Kindly do it. The person who gave me this information is an Intelligence officer with the Army. He looks worried too.”
Wow. Of course this sounds unbelievable but then Nigeria has witnessed some of the most unbelievable stories turn out to be true in the last few months and it will be foolhardy for anyone to dismiss a story as outrageous as this one.
We all remember who the government came out forcefully to refute the ‘rumour’ that it was planning to postpone the election. Yet, that ‘rumour’ became fact less than a week after the government officials and INEC have denied they has any such intentions!
We also remember the ‘rumour; that the President was trying to fire the CBN Governor Sanusi for exposing some financial improprieties in the government. Yet, that ‘rumour’ also became fact some weeks later.
To underscore the fact that the opposition party is not takin this so-called rumour lightly, the APC has gone ahead to issue a formal press release, adding further credence to the fact that there may indeed by such a plan by the Jonathan Government.Below is the text of the press release by the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organization:
“APC Campaign alerts on plot by FG to create fake Shekau”
Abuja, Nigeria, 23 Feb 2015: The APC Presidential Campaign Organization (APCPCO) has raised the alarm about reports of a fake Shekau being presented before Nigerians by the government in order to claim glory or winning the war on terrorism.
Beyond this, credible sources have alerted the APC that the fake Shekau might become a tool to blackmail members of the opposition by coaching the phantom terror chief to say he was working for the opposition party candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari in order to link its presidential candidate to terrorism as it had attempted but failed in the past.
A statement issued by the Director of Media and Publicity of the APCOPC signed by Malam Garba Shehu wondered where the ‘new Shekau’ will come from after government at several times in the past, announced that they had killed the insurgent leader.
“The charge to the military, that they should catch Shekau alive by the President in the last 24 hours lends credence to the report that indeed a fake Shekau is about being created.”
The statement went on to assert that the profile of the leader of the insurgents, Shekau, of a dedicated ideologue presupposes that the man is not likely to allow himself to be caught alive. “It is both contradictory to the ideology he preaches and the psychological profile that the world has of him that Shekau would allow himself to be caught alive,” the statement asserted.
The APCPCO recalled that the attack back in Kaduna on the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari was seen and believed by most Nigerians that it was perpetrated by the Boko Haram. “The police that is constitutionally empowered to investigate and report on such incidents has not contradicted the widespread belief that this was a Boko Haram attack. “The view of the APC is that it does not make sense for General Muhammadu Buhari to be in league with, or be associated in any way with people who have set out to kill him.”
In the view of this, the APCPCO said the government needs to listen to the various counsel from international bodies and lately by our religious leaders that campaign must be about issues and not maligning people. “Unfounded allegations linking the opposition to insurgency amounts to leaving the issues to pursue personal attacks as warned against, barely 24 hours ago by leaders of the Catholic Community in the country, through Arch. Bishop John Onaiyekan.
The APC presidential campaign said it was no less shocked, as other Nigerians by the President’s admission in a weekend newspaper interview that he has under-estimated the Boko Haram challenge, arguing that any leader in that circumstance should not consider himself fit to seek re-election.
Quoting President Jonathan’s recent confession that he under-estimated Boko Haram, the APC presidential campaign said the admission was a direct evidence that the PDP President has nothing to offer and must bow to the wind of change.
According to the statement, President Jonathan is out of touch with the realities of the lethal challenges posed by global terrorism, including Boko Haram, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda global terror network.
Malam Garba Shehu explained that for any President to under-estimate terrorism, it means that he doesn’t take any national challenges seriously, including health, poverty, unemployment, power, education, infrastructure and other issues.
The APC presidential campaign added that with his admission, President Jonathan has passed a vote of no confidence on himself and his government.
The statement added, however, that APC presidential campaign was not surprised by the self-confessed failure by the PDP President, explaining that his confession underlines the imperative for change.
Shehu said that with a President admitting his incompetence of a mortal challenge to the security of Nigerians, he has no business seeking re-election or looking for excuses to delay the polls.
Signed:
Garba Shehu
Directorate of Media and Publicity
APC Presidential Campaign Organisation
While I reserve my judgement until this new round of ‘rumour’ either dies out of its own accord, or becomes ‘fact’ like all the other before it, here is a poser the people of Nigeria should bear in mind in case the Jonathan Government did in fact play the ‘Shekau Joker’ before the 2015 elections: What happened to the Shekau they have reportedly killed several times in the past?
I remember the fanfare with which the military once announced that the Boko Haram leader had been killed, only for the man to surface in a new video several weeks later. The government never retracted its victory memo about having killed Shekau, and Nigerians would certainly ask them about this should they be foolish enough to play the ‘Shekau Joker’ before the coming elections.