The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has replied to a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, saying he would not touch the money he made from people in the guise of helping Leah Sharibu, who was abducted by Boko Haram.
Shehu said on his official Twitter handle while reacting to the Omokri’s challenge to give him $20,000 if he would sleep in Kware in Sokoto State or Koshobe in Borno State without security. Kware and Koshobe are known to be strongholds of bandits and terrorists respectively.
“If this is the money from the collections made in the name of Leah Sharibu, the unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram, I won’t touch it with a long. Please keep “your USD20000 (sic).” Shehu tweeted.
If this is the money from the collections made in the name of Leah Sharibu, the unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram, I wonât touch it with a long. Please keep âyour USD20000â. https://t.co/zn4NC24L9X
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) December 23, 2020
Omokri had earlier said he would offer the presidential spokesman $20,000, approximately N7.8m.
He wrote on Twitter, “Garba Shehu said Buhari has made Nigeria safer. I vow to pay him $20,000 if he will spend a night without security in Koshobe, or Kware, verified by an independent journalist. I will give the funds to Dele Momodu when he accepts to go.”
Shehu had claimed that the country had been made safer by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Leah Sharibu was among the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in Dapchi, Yobe State on February 19, 2018. Five of them did not survive the ordeal and Leah, a Christian, was not released along with others because she refused to convert to Islam.
Omokri later wrote a book titled ‘Leah Sharibu: The Girl Boko Haram Left Behind.’
“You will be shocked at the great cover-up by the Buhari administration when you read this book,” Omokri said about the publication. He also introduced custom-made ‘Free Leah Sharibu’ T-shirts said to be sold between N30,000 and N100,000, which were bought by some notable Nigerians.
There were allegations that he profited generously from the plight of Leah Sharibu and he was subsequently attacked by Nigerians on social media. The allegations led to the trending of #RenoUndarted on Twitter.
Omokri, however, denied the allegations, saying all the proceeds from the book and T-shirts were sent to Leah Sharibu’s parents.
