by Adeola Balogun

President Goodluck Jonathan has cancelled his planned visit to the village of Chibok in Borno where over 230 girls were kidnapped last month.

Reuters reported yesterday that the president had made plans to pay a visit to the village but sources from the Presidency have refuted this citing security fears.

Presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati said:

“The president will be travelling to France today (Friday). That is the fact. The president is not going to Chibok. Simple as that.”

 

President Jonathan has expressed his reservation about visiting the volatile region in his last appearance at the presidential media chat where he said if he “goes to Chibok or (he) sends one of his ministers they (insurgents) will just kill you.”

It is also pertinent to note that this might not be an opportune time to visit the three states, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno, operating under a state of emergency just days after a set of aggrieved soldiers staged a protested after seeing the dead bodies of their colleagues who had died in a Boko Haram ambush. The mutineers reportedly shot at the GOC, Maj. Gen. Ahmadu Mohammed’s convoy at the Maimalari Barracks in Borno.

Jonathan has jettisoned the idea of a visit and will instead fly to Paris, the French capital to discuss the Boko Haram insurgency at a regional summit on security.

A source told Reuters:

“The president was planning to go but security advised otherwise on the visit.”

The security summit is said to have been organized at the request of the Nigerian president to discuss a coordinated response to the insurgency with stakeholders from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin, and officials from the United States, Britain and the European Union.

President Jonathan has been severely criticized due to what has been perceived as his administration’s nonchalance in ensuring the safe return of the girls who have been in captivity for over 31 days.