Fashola berates Jonathan over Chibok girls’ parents invitation

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Thursday faulted President Goodluck Jonathan, for inviting parents of abducted Chibok schoolgirls to the Presidential Villa for the purpose of sympathising with them.

He described the development as lack of empathy, saying Jonathan’s leadership style “has re-defined empathy by inviting the bereaved parents to the presidential villa for commiseration.”

Fashola stated this in Abuja while delivering a lecture on ‘The challenge of Democratic Governance’ as part of activities to mark the 50th birthday celebration of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva. 

He insisted that Jonathan’s attitude was “Truly strange and Truly unAfrican”

He asked, “How does this sound? ‘Hello neighbour, I heard you lost your child to abductors. Please come and see me at home so I can sympathise with you’.

“This is my paraphrasing of what has so far transpired. As if this was not bad enough, the event had been followed by another round of lies about whether or not they tried to give money to the bereaved parents. For me, it’s a low point for leadership,  it suggests lack of empathy.”

According to him, “The first lie when the news of the abduction broke was that all the abducted girls had been retrieved.  When that was exposed,  the next lie was to raise doubts whether they were truly missing. 

“When that was not enough,  they are now telling us that they know where the children are. We are prayerfully waiting that they will bring the children home.”