I Am Not A Boko Haram Sponsor ..El Rufai

A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, on Sunday dismissed comments attributed to the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, as a futile attempt to divert attention from its governance deficits.

El-Rufai said Metuh’s comments were consistent with the PDP’s habit of making wild statements and irresponsible conjuncture.

According to him, this posture reflects the strong synergy between that party and its government whose record is a long litany of incompetence, insensitivity, impunity and needless deaths.

This was contained in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye.

The ex-minister was reacting to claims by Metuh that his recent comment about the 2015 general elections was sufficient evidence of his involvement with Boko Haram insurgents.

He accused the PDP of offering excuses and blaming others for what was clearly a failure of government.

The statement partly reads,  “If its officials are not blaming job seekers for the poor crowd control that led to fatalities, its officials will be busy shirking their duties to uphold the welfare and security of the people.

“Yet, every attempt by the PDP government to politicise and trivialise its abject security failures merely reminds everyone that it is not governing.

“The latest statement from PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh is a poor and vain effort to distract attention from governance deficits. His tool is to distort words from leading opposition politicians, and they misname his resulting concoction as evidence.”

He urged the PDP to be wary when it comes to the subject of twisting other peoples speeches because it was equally vulnerable.

El-Rufai recalled that after the October 1, 2010 bombing in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan was engulfed in the unedifying spectacle of trying to absolve the organisation that had claimed responsibility for it.

“The same scenario repeated itself when the United Nations building suffered a terrorist outrage; the President visited the scene to assure Nigerians that it was their turn to experience some of that global scourge.

“Weeks after a presidential aide was caught employing the ruse of a pseudonym to disseminate poison, mum has been the response of the government. Like Metuh’s statement, that effort was aimed at smearing someone at odds with the government with allegations of links to terror,” he added

The former minister also referred to media commentaries which he said had reflected some concerns about whether terror persisted because the government seeks political advantage in it.

He also said with schools, towns and army barracks still being attacked in the North-East, it is clear that our gallant security forces need to be better resourced and led to secure lives and property.