Official:Sambo has no link with suspected Boko Haram terrorist
Newsdiaryonline Wed Jan 18,2012

 
VP Sambo

Vice president Namadi Sambo has taken a swipe at a news  report linking  him with a suspected Boko Haram terrorist. A statement by Umar Sani, senior special adviser (media and publicity) to the VPsaid  the report was malicious and false.  

One Comrade Nuhu  Intelligence was recently arrested in Kaduna for alleged gun running.But an online medim has reported that 'comrade'  is an alleged Boko Haram kingpin and suspected terrorist.The medium also reported that the suspected terrorist has links with Sambo.

But Sambo's media aide today debunked this claim when he said it is foolhardy to link the vice president to such "a purported  suspected terrorist"  According to the VP's  aide ,“Comrade Nuhu Intelligence, as he is popularly referred to in Kaduna, was an elected chairman of Tanker Drivers Union in Kaduna State whose tenure spanned over a decade. As a politician by choice, he had participated in all the campaigns leading to elections held in the state, lending his support to one candidate or the other in whichever election he chooses to participate in."

Continuing the VP said through his aide  that ,“Politically, it is a tradition that does not require a person lending support to a candidate to seek for the candidate’s consent or recognition before embarking on such a venture. He does so by choice and that alone cannot establish any link or connection with such a person. We had witnessed, not along ago, a situation where a father distanced himself from the activities of his son for participating in International terrorism. It is therefore foolhardy for anyone to link the said suspected gun-runner to the vice president. 

According to the media aide to the vice president,Sambo has a record of successful fight against Boko Haram suspects when he was governor of Kaduna state. “The Vice President is the first governor to arrest and prosecute 19 members of Boko Haram in the state through the famous security outfit commonly known as Operation Yaki which he created. This culminated in their mass departure from the state to other neighbouring states and some other parts of the country. It will be unwise to associate the person that fought the terrorist group to a standstill as a governor to having fraternal links with the same group ”Sani said. 

And he concluded ,therefore that “The story is a concoction of the online medium to boost its popularity  rating and mislead the millions of our unsuspecting online readers who swallow such false stories hook, line and sinker.” 

Read the full text of the Vice President’s reaction below:

PRESS STATEMENT  

A story making the rounds in an online medium that the Vice President Arc Mohammed Namadi Sambo is linked to a purported suspected terrorist going by the name Nuhu Muhammed is not only malicious but a grand design by the online medium whose stock in trade is to disparage the reputation of credible Nigerians by publishing a sponsored and unsubstantiated ethically deficient stories where they accuse personalities unjustly and are neither given the right of refuttal, denial or fair hearing.

Comrade Nuhu Intelligence, as he is popularly referred to in Kaduna, was an elected chairman of Tanker Drivers Union in Kaduna State whose tenure spanned over a decade. As a politician by choice, he had participated in all the campaigns leading to elections held in the state, lending his support to one candidate or the other in whichever election he chooses to participate in. 

Politically, it is a tradition that does not require a person lending support to a candidate to seek for the candidate’s consent or recognition before embarking on such a venture. He does so by choice and that alone cannot establish any link or connection with such a person. We had witnessed, not along ago, a situation where a father distanced himself from the activities of his son for participating in International terrorism. It is therefore foolhardy for anyone to link the said suspected gun-runner to the vice president. 

The Vice President is the first governor to arrest and prosecute 19 members of Boko Haram in the state through the famous security outfit commonly known as Operation Yaki which he created. This culminated in their mass departure from the state to other neighbouring states and some other parts of the country. It will be unwise to associate the person that fought the terrorist group to a standstill as a governor to having fraternal links with the same group.

The story is a concoction of the online medium to boost its popularity  rating and mislead the millions of our unsuspecting online readers who swallow such false stories hook, line and sinker.

Signed:

Umar Sani

SSA (Media & Publicity)

To the Vice President