What I Know About Boko Haram ––Ali Modu Sheriff Opens Up

Former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has opened up on what he knows about the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents currently ravaging states in the northeast and some other parts of the country, while disclosing that only the neighbouring Republic of Chad could help solve the menace.

Sheriff, while speaking in a BBC Hausa Service magazine programme on Saturday, denied reports saying that Boko Haram started during his tenure as governor of Borno State between 2003 and 2011. He revealed that the radical religious sect actually started in Yobe State in 1992, and that he has been trying to find a lasting solution to it, including talking to the Chadian government.

President Jonathan In Closed Door Meeting With Modu Sheriff

President Goodluck Jonathan and former Borno State Governor Ali-Modu Sheriff were reportedly in a closed door meeting yesterday, the meeting took place at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Modu Sheriff, who came out of the president’s office some minutes after former Military Administrator of Lagos State, Gen. Buba Marwa stepped out, refused initially to talk with journalists, saying there was no time

But LEADERSHIP gathered that Jonathan’s meeting with Modu Sheriff might not be unconnected with the current negotiations between the federal government and the Boko Haram group which led to the declaration of a ceasefire and reported plans for the release of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Borno State on April 14, 2014.

Why President Jonathan Could Not Avoid Modu Sheriff In Chad – Aide

A lot has been said about the Presidential visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to his Chadian counterpart, the main issue being the inclusion of Ali Modu Sheriff in the delegation that received the President on arrival.
Ali Modu Sheriff has been accused of been a sponsor of the deadly Boko Haram. In this report by Vanguard an unnamed presidential Aide explains that it was not the decision of President Jonathan to make.

After the dilemma the presidential delegation was allegedly thrown into when they arrived the Chadian capital and found that the former Borno State governor was not only in Chad but was also  part of the Chadian President’s delegation that came to receive the president at the airport, more facts have emerged on why Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, the former governor of Borno State was in Ndjamena, Chad during the visit of President Jonathan to the country recently.

Ali Modu Sheriff Still Under Probe - Presidency

Presidency has denied allegations that former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, accused of sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria,  was part of the delegation of President Goodluck Jonathan on his recent visit to his Chadian counterpart, Idris Derby. 

Insisting that the Presidency was aware that he was under investigation, by the SSS for sponsoring Boko Haram. The Punch reports

 President Goodluck Jonathan has denied travelling to Chad with a former Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, for a meeting with the Chadian President, Idris Derby, on terrorism issues.

The President said he was fully aware of allegations of Boko Haram sponsorship levelled against the former governor, adding that he was only waiting for the outcome of his probe by security operatives.

The presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, who said this in a statement on Thursday, insisted that the extent of participation of Sheriff in President Jonathan’s mission to N’Djamena, the Chadian capital, was limited to his being part of Nigerians who welcomed the President to the foreign land.

How Modu Sheriff Was Arrested By Cameroon For Sponsoring Boko Haram- Femi Falana

Lagos based human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, yesterday, revealed how Former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff was arrested in 2012 by the Cameroonian government for the crime committed by the deadly Boko Haram sect.

Meantime, ahead of the 2015 election, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor Tam David-West, Professor Akin Oyebode and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, have, unanimously, urged Nigerians to wake up from their slumber and use the next year’s election to bring relief to their unwholesome circumstances.

Falana and other eminent personalities spoke at the 5th Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Lecture, titled; ‘State of the Nation and 2015 general elections: Issues, posers and challenges before us, held in Lagos.

“In October 2012, Sheriff was arrested in Cameroun on crime committed by the Boko Haram he sponsored. The state government pleaded with the Camerounian government to release him because he is a well known man here and he cannot be arrested.” Falana stated.

Death Toll From Sallah Day Bombing Rises To 43

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state was moved to tears  as the death toll from the Sallah day suicide bombing rose to 43.
 Mean while a group, Borno Elites for Peace, Stability and Progress, BESP has asked security agencies to invite a former Governor of the state, Alhaji Modu-Sheriff, for questioning over the bomb blast in Maiduguri, claiming he was an enemy of the state. The group asked Alhaji Sheriff to name the bombers since he, Sheriff, claimed that Boko Haram was not responsible for the blast.