Officials Send Reporter out of Aso Rock over Embarassing Question

Security details at the Presi­dency on Monday withdrew the accreditation of the Radio Dutch correspondent and ordered the journalist out of the Villa. The journalist is Ubale Musa, the State House correspondent of German Radio, Deutsche Welle.

Musa probably irked the secu­rity operatives because of his ‘em­barrassing questions’ to visiting Chadian President, Idris Derby.

The question in contention, ac­cording to Musa was the one relat­ing to the relationship between the Chadian troops and the sup­posed South African mercenaries.

“What is the relationship be­tween the multinational task force fighting in Lake Chad and the South African mercenaries fighting with them?,” Ubale had asked the Chadian leader.

He was said to have been invited by the security aides to President Jonathan soon after Derby’s de­parture and had his accreditation card seized and escorted out of the Villa.

Meanwhile, the Chadian Presi­dent, has said that he would not provide information on the where­abouts of Boko Haram leader, Ibrahim Shekau even if he knew his hiding place.

The Chadian leader spoke on yesterday at Aso Rock Presiden­tial Villa, Abuja during a visit to President Goodluck Jonathan.

“I cannot tell you today that I know where Shekau is hiding and even if I knew I won’t tell you,” he stated while answering questions posed to him by State House cor­respondents.

This position is, however, con­trary to his earlier reported stance that that he knew where the Boko Haram leader was and would or­der his arrest if he failed to sur­render.

President Derby also denied any knowledge of South African mercenaries allegedly working with the multinational forces in the fight against the insurgents, even as he expressed regrets over the inability of the Nigeria and his country to undertake joint field operations in the fight.

He said: “It’s regrettable that the two armies, that is the Nigerian army and the Chadian Army are working separately in the field, they are not undertaking joint operation. If they were operat­ing joint operation probably they would have achieved more results.

“I have no information concern­ing mercenaries from South Af­rica.

“Still on the issue of Boko Ha­ram, in the Lake Chad Basin there are four countries Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger that are currently securing the area. The four countries have managed to form a multinational mixed force that will metamophose into what is probably known as a Rapid Response Force that the African Union is trying to form for Af­rica.”