The All Progressives Congress, APC, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to hand over former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff and former Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejerika, a lieutenant general, to the International Criminal Court, ICC, for prosecution for sponsoring terrorists.

National chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, made the call on Tuesday, at a media briefing in Abuja.

He spoke on the party’s stand on a recent revelation by an Australian negotiator appointed by the federal government to effect the release of over 200 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in April that the duo were among sponsors of the terrorist group.

Oyegun, the truth about the seemingly intractable insurrection had finally finally come out and that it was clear that contrary to an orchestrated plot by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and officials of the government, the APC has no hand in the Boko Haram insurgency.

“The sponsors of Boko Haram are within the PDP and the Presidency. They are known friends of President Jonathan. He knows them and they know him”.

He pointed out the man who exposed the Boko Haram sponsors is a Jonathan-appointed negotiator. “He has no axe to grind, neither does he have any motive to shield the APC or portray the PDP Presidency in bad light. In fact, if he had any sympathy at all, it is for the man who hired him – President Jonathan,” the APC chairman said.

He said that the allegation that the APC had links with the Boko Haram terrorists orchestrated for the sole purpose brightening President Jonathan’s reelection bid.

“We have said it all along. Boko Haram was politicised purely for one reason, and one reason only: To be used as a trump card for President Jonathan to win another term.”

The party said in a desperate bid to make this strategy work, the PDP which sees the APC as the only stumbling block to its victory in 2015, has employed the tactic of maligning it.

Oyegun accused politicians under the platform of the ruling PDP such as the party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh, of orchestrating this strategy by calling the APC an Islamic party.

The APC noted that it was in the process of this dangerous politics, that the Nigerian military, which was globally acclaimed for its impressive showings at various peacekeeping missions around the world, simply suffered collateral damage.

It accused fifth columnists in the military of selling the force out, first by denying it of the necessary fighting tools and then weakening it to such an extent that even the little it had was being taken away daily by insurgents.
The party also noted that when Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State tried to raise the issue of the poorly-equipped troops and their low morale, he was roundly criticised.

“Now that the cat has been let out of the bag and the real sponsors of Boko Haram have been exposed, we hope President Jonathan will summon the courage to do the right thing: Hand over the identified Boko Haram sponsors to the International Criminal Court for investigation and prosecution,” Oyegun added.