Naja’atu contradicted herself on Shettima

ISA GUSAU FROM THISDAY

Hajiya Naja’atu Muhammad is not naïve, she did not err, she knew she was telling lies when, at the end of last month (January, 2023) she went on television, to libelously link Vice Presidential candidate of the APC, Senator Kashim Shettima with sponsorship of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Naja’atu, and those who may have scripted her play, wanted to use her ‘just divorced’ relationship with the APC, to present herself as a former ‘insider’, in a position to make some revelations. It is typical of defectors, especially when they are ‘well motivated’ or looking forward to it.

At her ‘must-win-a-new-husband’ interview, Naja’atu tried using one incident to associate Shettima with Boko Haram. She cited that a notorious member of the Boko Haram, Kabiru Sokoto, was arrested at the Borno Governor’s official lodge on T.Y. Danjuma Street, Asokoro, Abuja, back in January 2012, when Kashim Shettima, was less than one year old in office, as Governor of Borno State. That to her, was enough to call him a terror sponsor.

In holding to that argument, however, Naja’atu contradicted herself in at least, the following four ways: Kabiru Sokoto was arrested at the Borno Governor’s official lodge on January 14, 2012 and for that, Naja’atu called Kashim Shettima a sponsor of Boko Haram. However, what Naja’atu deliberately omitted was that sometime in 2014, she was in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and during her visit, Naja’atu stayed at the official residence of Kashim Shettima while he was Governor of Borno State.

Naja’atu spent two days or so, with Kashim Shettima and his family in the Government House, and that stay happened two years after Kabiru Sokoto was arrested at the Borno Governor’s lodge.

Now, if Naja’atu truly believed that Kabiru Sokoto’s arrest implied a link between Boko Haram and Kashim Shettima, would she have considered it safe to travel and live in the same house with the same Kashim Shettima, and in Maiduguri, where the Boko Haram was still commanding territories at that time?  

I knew about Naja’atu’s visit to Maiduguri and her stay at Shettima’s residence, because I worked closely with Shettima as his media adviser throughout his first and second terms as Governor of Borno State.

Kabiru Sokoto’s arrest back in January, 2012 at the Borno Governor’s official lodge happened during the administration of then President Goodluck Jonathan, who was leader of the PDP, while Shettima was then an opposition Governor under the ANPP (which later fused into APC). After Kabiru Sokoto was arrested, security agencies investigated the circumstances of Kabiru Sokoto’s arrest.

It is public knowledge that as sitting President in the PDP, Jonathan openly had issues with Kashim Shettima (in the then opposition ANPP). Shettima openly criticised Jonathan’s handling of the Boko Haram while Jonathan openly threatened Shettima (see Premium Times, February 25, 2014, ‘Jonathan slams Borno Governor, Shettima’).

Now, if the PDP-presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, which investigated Kabiru Sokoto’s arrest had found anything criminal associated with Kashim Shettima, will the PDP-presidency have spared an opposition ANPP Governor, especially one that the PDP-presidency openly criticised? Would Kabiru Sokoto’s issue not have given the PDP a strong story-line to use in associating Shettima and the entire APC with Boko Haram ahead of the intense 2015 election?

At an Abuja public presentation in April 2018, when the Bring Back Our Girls movement held a lecture on Chibok girls, Naja’atu Muhammad, reminded her audience thus, as I quote her: “I have been part of a committee that investigated the atrocities of Boko Haram…” Naja’atu announced (see The Cable, April 18, 2018, ‘Naja’atu Muhammad: Terrorism has become a multi-billion dollar industry’).