Former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has threatened to institute a N10bn lawsuit against the Borno State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Kaka Shehu Lawan, for alleging that he is the mastermind of the Boko Haram sect.
The factional national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who issued this threat in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser, Media, Inuwa Bwala, warned that unless the Attorney-General makes an immediate retraction and apology, he should brace up for legal consequences.
Lawan had during the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; accused Sheriff of having links with Boko Haram, urging the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to arrest and prosecute the former governor.
While alleging that Sheriff encouraged the spread of the Islamic terrorist group by financing its leaders, he stressed that the arrest of Sheriff over his alleged role in the emergence of Boko Haram will bring succour to those affected by the activities of the terrorists.
But Sheriff, in the statement by his aide, said that he would not have ordinarily responded to the ”irresponsible, mischievous and baseless statements”, had it been made in the usual manner the Borno state government had always tried to smear his integrity.
“Sheriff who has earlier warned on the consequences of any further derogatory comments about his person in connection with the Boko Haram saga, has already directed his lawyers to write to the Attorney General as well as the Borno State Government, demanding immediate retraction of the statement and an unreserved apology, as he makes plans to drag the Commissioner to court and demand N10 Billion as damages,” the statement disclosed.
Bwala described Lawan’s comments, which he further alleged is from all indications the reflection of the official position of the Borno State Government, as rascally and the height of sycophancy, stressing that “there was never a commission of enquiry, instituted by the Borno State Government or the Federal Government that has found Sheriff culpable, neither has there ever been a security report indicting him, as being alleged.”
The statement reads in part, “Sheriff wishes to state that, having the caliber of Kaka Shehu as the Attorney General of a state is a sad commentary and choosing the Bar Conference as the veritable avenue to further the agenda of his paymasters, was a sacrilege and disservice to the noble profession.
“It is common knowledge that casting aspersions on the personality of a highly revered statesman like Ali Modu Sheriff, who bequeathed to his Kaka Shehu’s boss a potentially prosperous state, has become a favorite pastime amongst Borno State Government Officials, and the NBA made a grievous mistake in allowing its conference to be hijacked by one of such agents.
“It may interest Nigerians to know that since Sheriff’s Government began a clampdown on the radicalization of sermons, with the proscription of Boko Haram, Sheriff has remained the number one enemy of the sect. Very often they have pronounced death upon him. His family has remained most vulnerable as his own blood brother has been killed by Boko Haram. Three of his relations, including his Governorship candidate had felled to Boko Haram bullets. Several attempts have been made to kill him. His personal; houses have been razed down by Boko Haram, amongst so many other dangers he has been facing.
“It is most uncharitable to accuse a man who has suffered most in the hands of Boko Haram as being their sponsor. Common knowledge dictates that he could not have founded and sponsored a group that kills his brothers, burn his property and threatens his existence.
“Records have it that Boko Haram has a long and intriguing history, predating sheriff’s emergence as the Governor of Borno in 2003. It is verifiable that Boko Haram metamorphosed from the assemblage of some young Muslim radicals in Kanama, Yobe State in 2003 and its unholy pronouncements may have given rise to the radical sermons, which sheriff’s Government proscribed immediately he came on board.
“It is a truism that at the point of Sheriff’s departure in 2011, there was no single Borno state territory under Boko Haram control. It is a fact that no single citizen has been displaced from his or her home by Boko Haram while Sheriff was Governor. It is incontrovertible fact, that, there was no single displaced persons camp in any part of the State or anywhere. Against this background, we expect the Borno state government to own up to its failure and the culpability of its officials in the book Haram saga, and stop looking for a scapegoat.
“Taking into consideration the fact that the said commissioner, whose emergence as a public officer remains questionable, and therefore lacking the competence to query the integrity of others, it is worthy of note, that there was never a commission of enquiry, instituted by the Borno State Government or the Federal Government that have found Sheriff culpable, neither has there ever been a security report indicting him, as being alleged,” Sheriff stated.
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