THE JURY RULES: Jonathan must visit Borno

Before the Jury of TheCable newspaper holden at Lagos this 16th Day of May, 2014 between Concerned Chibok Campaigners (plaintiffs) and President Goodluck Jonathan (defendant)

THE CLAIMS

THAT you, Goodluck Ebelemi Azikiwe Jonathan (PhD), 56, Male, Christian, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, on or before the 16th day of May, 2014, cancelled a planned trip to Chibok, Borno State, having raised the hopes of Nigerians that you would visit the scene of the kidnap saga for the first time after one month;

THAT you, to the chagrin of many Nigerians, have not taken time out to go to Borno State to interact with the troops, listen to their stories and lift their morale in the unending war against Boko Haram insurgents;

THAT your attitude to the kidnap saga in Chibok and other villages in Borno has been less than satisfactory, forcing many analysts to descend on you both in foreign and local media.

THE DEFENCE

THAT you never had any plans to visit Chibok on May 16, much less cancel it;

THAT if you were going to visit Chibok, you would not make it  a media event because of the security implications;

THAT your attitude to the Chibok saga has been satisfactory, whereas your political opponents wanted to seize the abduction affair to further damage you in preparation for the 2015 election.

THE JUDGMENT

WHEREAS you said there were no plans to visit Chibok in the first instance, you probably had a change of mind because there was a media leak;

WHEREAS the media leak could have endangered your security and embarrassed the country if anything untoward had happened, you have not demonstrated that you have a loyal security team that will keep official secrets and keep you safe;

WHEREAS you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, you have not taken personal interest in boosting the morale of our soldiers on the warfront by paying them surprise visits, having lunch with them or awarding them special medals for their service to fatherland.

WHEREAS you are of the opinion that the opposition is taking advantage of the situation to discredit your government, you nevertheless have a job to do as President of Nigeria and it is of no significance what the opposition says or does.

THEREFORE, TheCable Jury finds your defence insufficient and unconvincing. It is HEREBY ruled that you pay a visit to Borno State as soon as possible and re-jig your security team if you think fifth columnists are leaking highly sensitive information about your movements to the media…