I cannot take responsibility for Chibok girls’ abduction – Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that he could not take the blame for the abduction of the over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok by Boko Haram in 2014.

Jonathan said rather, Boko Haram should be blamed for the abduction of the girls in 2014 because as a President he could not go to the battlefield to fight insurgents.

He said, “I cannot take responsibility for the abduction, I don’t control Boko Haram. They are criminals. But as a President, of course you know it is not the President that goes to the field. You have security and intelligence officers that do the work.

“Let me admit that yes, maybe they did their best but their best was not good enough for us to recover the girls. That I cannot say I am right or I am wrong. That does not mean I am trying to remove myself from any blame.

I may not be blamed for the action but I could be blamed that my security intelligence system was not strong enough to rescue the girls.

If I as a politician could tell the whole world that my political ambition for any office is not worth the blood of a single Nigerian, how would I be happy that girls have been kidnapped? I am not that kind of character.”

The former President also lamented the way the Chibok issue was politicised.

He wondered why the First Lady of the United States would take part in carrying a ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ placard.