APC must produce ‘original Shekau’, says Fayose

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, wants the All Progressives Congress (APC) to “produce the original Abubakar Shekau”, leader of the Boko Haram Islamist sect.

Fayose made the demand to counter APC’s claim that the federal government and President Goodluck Jonathan were plotting to produce a fake Shekau and present before Nigerians in order to claim glory of winning the war on terrorism while implicating its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement released on Tuesday by Lere Olayinka, his special assistant on public communication and new media, Fayose branded APC’s claim as a further confirmation that the opposition knows those behind the Boko Haram insurgency.

“It is obvious that APC does not want the insurgency to end. Up till today, the APC has not made any statement, commending our gallant soldiers that are laying down their lives to save Nigerians from the Boko Haram insurgents,” he said.

“Instead of commending the soldiers and encouraging them, what the APC people are doing is to blackmail the military and one wonders why a party will want to take over power by supporting killing of innocent Nigerians.

“With the onslaught on the Boko Haram by our gallant soldiers, the APC appears to have lost the game of using the insurgency to campaign against President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Instead of them to face this reality, they have come up with this criminal assertion that a fake leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau,
was being presented before Nigerians by the government, in order to claim winning the war on terrorism.

“They are also claiming the fake Shekau might become a tool to blackmail members of the opposition by coaching the phantom terror
chief to say he was working for its presidential candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, in order to link him to terrorism.

“With this statement coming from the APC, it is clear that the party knows what we don’t know about Boko Haram. It also indicates that the APC people do not want the Boko Haram insurgency to end so that they can continue to make political gains from it.”

Fayose therefore urged APC to “simply produce the origina

l Shekau that they know because you can only recognise fake when you know the original.”