You can’t rewrite history, Garba Shehu tells Dasuki

Garba Shehu, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, has dismissed the claim of Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser, that the government of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan made the 2015 election possible.

In the foreword of a book entitled: ‘Boko Haram media war – an encounter with the spymaster’, authored by Yushau Shuaib, a communications consultant, Dasuki said without the defeat of Boko Haram by Jonathan’s government, the electorate would not have had the opportunity to exercise their franchise”.

But Shehu accused Dasuki of attempting to rewrite history.

He said the “incompetence and misgovernance” of Jonathan-led administration had made the sect more daring in its operations.

Shehu added that contrary to Dasuki’s claims, as of the time elections were held in March 2015, a number of local government areas in the north-east were completely under the control of Boko Haram.

“The superlative claims by the former national security adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki that the Goodluck Jonathan administration cleared the north-east of Boko Haram terrorists to make elections possible in 2015 is untrue and should be dismissed as an attempt to deceive Nigerians with blatant lies,” the statement read.

“The claim as contained in a new book by a journalist is just another unfortunate attempt by inglorious Nigerians to rewrite the history of our country in such a way as to cover the sins of the past.

“As a public relations goon for the former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, the author did not surprise anyone by dismissing the acclaimed successes of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the fight against Boko Haram, claiming that this government simply took the glory for the achievements of the previous government in the war against terrorism.”

He added that under the previous administration, there were cases of “unserviceable weapons, expired ammunition and fake armoured vehicles, which caused untold grief to valiant armed forces on the battlefield”.

“It is for trespasses like these that the Buhari administration is determined to get to the bottom of the 2.1 billion dollars arms procurement scandal and ensure that no single one of the culprits goes scot free,” the statement read.

“The truth, as a matter of fact, is that the monster of terrorism got bigger and more daring due to the incompetence and misgovernance of the last administration and no amount lies and fiction can change that.”