Controversies have trailed the selection of Ali Modu Sheriff as the acting Chairman of the PDP and the emergence of a video of former President Goodluck Jonathan making reference to him as a friend to the founder of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Goodluck Jonathan (Left) and Ali Modu Sheriff (Right)
About two weeks after Nigeria’s secret police, the State Security Service (SSS), cleared a former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, of any link to the extremist Boko Haram sect in 2014, a video clip surfaced suggesting that President Goodluck Jonathan was personally aware and strongly convinced of the former’s governor’s longstanding relationship with the founder of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf who was allegedly killed by security operatives after arrest.
In the video clip, shot in April 2013 during a visit he made to Borno state, Mr. Jonathan was heard describing Mr. Sheriff, who was then a member of the opposition All Progressives Congress [APC] as a “friend” of Mohammed Yusuf. Jonathan insinuated Boko Haram developed over the years during the 8-year tenure of Ali Modu Sheriff as governor of the current terror-hotbed, Borno state.
The video features the president, dressed in Agbada and a cap, and clutching two microphones in his left hand while he addressed his audience, trying to defend the militarization of Borno and other states in the northeast region.
In his speech, Mr. Jonathan argued that the militarization of the region began after the crises that trailed the murder of the Boko Haram founder.
For a moment, the president could not remember the name of the slain Boko Haram leader and he called on the audience for help.
“Ehn ehn, what is the name of ehn ehn Governor Sheriff’s friend?” the president asked.
The audience clapped and laughed. Some echoed Yusuf!
“When Yusuf was killed, that was the beginning of the crisis…” the president continued his speech.
Watch video below: