All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former Niger State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, believes that attempts to link former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, with banditry in the state is wicked.
However, he advises the former military strongman, who presided over the administration that brought in civil rule in 1999, to go beyond issuing press statements to clear his name.
Viral social media posts and an online newspaper report had accused Abubakar of owning the helicopter that supplies weapons, food, and materials to bandits in the state; but the General merely issued a statement by a spokesman to deny it.
Vatsa dismissed the reports as unfortunate and wicked.
On the statement issued by Abubakar, the APC chieftain said, “rather he should address the people of the state and put the records straight in other to clear himself of this heinous allegation”.
Vatsa expressed surprise that one year after this rumour has been on, nobody has been able to show the public the image of the alleged crashed helicopter, stressing that “we would have loved to see the image of the helicopter.
“This rumour is over one year now that a helicopter belonging to the former head of state, supplying food and weapons was brought down by the villagers through “black power” but up till now nobody has shown us the picture or the crash site”, he said.
Vatsa, who is the coordinator on public affairs to Governor Sani Bello nevertheless threw his weight behind the call by a Northern group, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for a full investigation into the report to unravel the mystery behind the helicopter saga.
He pointed out that all well-meaning Nigerians should support every effort that will bring the security situation in the country to an end.
“We must join hands to address this security situation before it consume all of us”.
According to him, linking the former head of state to helicopter supplying weapons and food to bandits in the state without any physical evidence is a mere distraction from the reality on ground,
” I think the security agents have what it takes to do a thorough investigation into the matter and let Nigerians know the through situation”.
He praised the Army and other security agencies for the ongoing military operations in forests across the state which he said yielding results to the extent that some Internally Displaced People (IDP) are returning to their homes.