By Michael Olugbode
Former boss of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (BOSEMA), Alhaji Grema Terab has denied allegations that he was mounting a campaign for the return of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2019.
Terab, who spoke to our correspondent on Friday after a bulk message purportedly sent by him, calling out people to be part of an organised march for Jonathan/Fayose 2019 Presidency surfaced, said the action was by some groups of politicians in Maiduguri who were out to rubbish his political credibility before the next general election.
He said that they were obviously angry because he had maintained a consistent media campaign against the maltreatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in some of the camps in the state.
“I think the government finds what I say unbearable because it is the truth which is why they have decided to mount this campaign of calumny against me but I assure you. It’s all lies” the former BOSEMA boss said.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Borno State had equally on Thursday issued a release distancing itself from a campaign message allegedly authored by the former chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, calling for the return of President Goodluck Jonathan to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
The State Secretary of the APC, Bello Ayuba had said in a statement that Grema Terab had been parading himself as a member of the APC in Borno State whereas there was no record of him registered as card carrying member of the APC in any of the 312 wards across the 27 local government areas of Borno State.
Reacting to the turn of events, Terab said that he never left the APC and he was going to drag them to court for daring to drag his name in the mud.
His words ” they are just being desperate trying to use this smear campaign against me. The intention is to blackmail me towards the year 2019.
“They are nothing but concocted lies. How can they say I don’t have a card. I have a card and would show anybody who cares to see it. They are just desperate to bring an innocent person down and I will surely sue them to court for this. “
The APC statement had alleged that members in Borno State received messages in their mobile phones urging them to, join the launching of our movement to Bring-Back-Goodluck-Jonathan in 2019;
“All Northerners have failed this country and no northern (Muslim or Christian) has capacity. Let us Northerners also concede the Vice President to Governor Ayo Fayose. He is the most courageous, honest Nigerian leader today.
“Jonathan/Fayose 2019 ticket will transform our country. Fayose is a man of the masses and Jonathan is very humble. He is also a very generous man. Whoever worked with Jonathan says goodbye to poverty. We need empowerment in Nigeria”, the statement noted.
The statement went on, “while we respect the freedom of any Nigerian, including Grema Terab to associate with any political party and aspirant of his choice for all elective office, we find it disturbing that some Nigerians are already assuming Terab is a member of the Borno APC for the fact that he always identifies himself as a member of the APC in Borno State”
Alhaji Grema Tereb was once the Chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency from 2013 to 2015 but fell out with the late deputy governor Zannah Mustapha over logistics and financial mid understanding.
