The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has demanded immediate retraction of statements credited to Borno State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Kaka Shehu, accusing Sheriff of being the mastermind of the Boko Haram sect.
He reportedly made the statement during the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
A statement by Special Adviser on Media to Sheriff, on Wednesday said that they were constrained to respond to the statement because it is “coming at the gathering of one of the noblest professionals in the country.”
He said it was worthy of note, that there was never a commission of enquiry, instituted by the Borno State government or the Federal Government that had found Sheriff culpable, neither had there ever been a security report indicting him, as being alleged.
Sheriff, who had earlier warned on the consequences of any further derogatory comments about his person in connection with the Boko Haram saga, has already directed his lawyers to write to the Attorney General as well as the Borno State government, demanding the immediate retraction of the statement and an unreserved apology, as he makes plans to drag the commissioner to court and demand N10 billion as damages.
Describing the Commissioner’s comments, as “rascally and the height of sycophancy,” Bwala said, “choosing the Bar Conference as the veritable avenue to further the agenda of his paymasters, was a sacrilege and disservice to the noble profession.”
“It may interest Nigerians to know that since Sheriff’s government began a clampdown on the radicalisation of sermons, with the proscription of Boko Haram, Sheriff has remained the number one enemy of the sect. Very often they have pronounced death upon him. His family has remained most vulnerable, as Boko Haram has killed his own blood brother. Three of his relations, including his governorship candidate had fallen to Boko Haram bullets. Several attempts have been made to kill him. His personal; houses have been razed by Boko Haram, amongst so many other dangers he has been facing.”
“It is most uncharitable to accuse a man, who has suffered most in the hands of Boko Haram, as being their sponsor,” the statement said, adding there was no single Borno State territory under Boko Haram control when Sheriff left office in 2011, neither was any Borno indigene displaced while Sheriff was governor.
SUN NEWS
