US, France, Advised Jonathan Not To Visit Chibok
Category: World News
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| President Jonathan at security summit in France |
According
to a report on Leadership online, the US, France and Israel, who are
currently part of the efforts to free the over 200 abducted schoolgirls
of the Government Secondary School in Chibok, termed the trip
“ill-advised and contemptuous”.
It was gathered that the initial plan was for President Jonathan to visit Chibok early on Friday before heading for Paris, France, where he is currently attending a security summit.
However, a source inside the presidency informed that the president’s planned trip to the troubled town was against the initial advice of Nigeria’s security and intelligence community.
While the cancelled trip had drawn mixed reaction from Nigerians, both home and abroad, Presidential spokesman Dr Rueben Abati , via his twitter handle, had on Friday denied that there was such planned visit to Chibok.
A source says President Jonathan had been expected to fly on one of his presidential jets from Abuja to Maiduguri, and then head to Chibok in a military helicopter.
The source disclosed that some of the president’s men insisted on the visit despite the nation’s intelligence community disagreement with the visit.
Debunking Abati's denial, the source asked: "If not, why did the presidential media team not issue a statement to debunk the report about the visit when it was first published on Thursday?
It was gathered that the foreign intelligence network specifically advised against President Jonathan’s trip on the strength of what they called “the international media angle to the Chibok saga”.
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