I did not reject British offer to rescue Chibok school girls - Jonathan rebuff claims by UK newspaper

Goodluck Jonathan

The former President, Goodluck Jonathan has discredited claims made by a British newspaper, The Guardian, that his government rejected an offer by British forces to rescue the abducted Chibok school girls in 2014 from the clutch of a extremist group, Boko Haram.

The below statement was issued on Sunday, March 5^thby the Ex-President’s media adviser, Okechukwu Eze, saying,

"Nothing can be further from the truth, as Nigerians are conversant with the effort made by the Jonathan administration towards rescuing the Chibok girls, especially in relation to collaborating with the international community, in the bid.

"We can confidently say that the lies in this report are self-evident. This is because the international press as well as the Nigeria media actively covered the multinational efforts and collaboration which involved some of the major powers deploying their crack intelligence officers to work with our own security operatives, and those of our neighbours.

"In the course of the mission, the international team, including members from Nigeria’s neighbours of Chad, Niger and Cameroun, met regularly with our own operatives to plan and conduct their operations.

"In fact, the Jonathan administration was so genuinely supportive that the foreign powers involved were granted permission to overfly our airspace, while conducting the search and rescue missions.

“We would wish to recall that this collaboration was made possible following letters personally written by former President Jonathan to President Barack Obama of the United States, President Francois Hollande of France, Mr. David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as well as personal contacts made to the Governments of Israel and China, seeking their assistance in the search for the abducted Chibok girls.

“We are however not surprised that this kind of concocted story is coming out at this point in time, as it appears that some people who have obviously been playing politics with the issue of the Chibok girls will stop at nothing to further their interest.

"Again we ask the newspapers to always cross-check their facts before rushing to publish false information, especially when being spread by those who want to unfairly promote their own pride, against our own national interest.”