Former Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has described as blatant lie the claim by the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, that he refused international help with the rescue of the kidnapped Chibok girls was untrue.
Cameron, had, in his new book, ‘For the Record’, accused Jonathan and the Nigerian Government, which Jonathan then headed, of corruption and rejecting the help of the British Government in rescuing the Chibok schoolgirls, who were kidnapped on April 14, 2014.
The former president in his response said it was quite sad that Cameron would say such, adding that nothing of such ever occurred.
He stated that as the then President of Nigeria, he not only wrote letters to Cameron, but also wrote to the then United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama, and the then French President, Mr. François Hollande, as well as the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr.Benjamin Netanyahu, appealing to them for help in rescuing the Chibok girls.
He said, “How could I write to appeal for help and then reject the very thing I appealed for?
“Also, history contradicts Mr Cameron. On March 8, 2012, when the same Boko Haram-linked terrorists abducted a British expatriate named Chris McManus, along with an Italian hostage Franco Lamolinara, in Sokoto, I, as Nigerian President, personally authorised rescue effort by members of the British Military Special Boat Service supported by officers and men of the Nigerian Army, to free the abducted men.”
He added, “So having set a precedent like that, why would I reject British help in rescuing the Chibok Girls, if it was offered?
“I also authorised the secret deployment of troops from the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel as a result of the Chibok incident, so how Mr. Cameron could say this with a straight face beats me.
“Moreover, on March 8, 2017, the British Government of former Prime Minister, Theresa May, in a widely circulated press statement, debunked this allegation and said there was no truth in it after Mr. Cameron had made similar statements to the Observer of the United Kingdom.”
