ABUJA, Nigeria — President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to France on Friday, May 16, 2014. He will not visit Chibok, the presidency said, rejecting an earlier report about his schedule.
Jonathan is expected to meet leaders from other African countries in France for discussions focused on terrorism.
Reuters had reported a day earlier that the president planned to visit Chibok, the Borno State community where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls on April 14.
An unnamed presidency source said presidential spokesman Reuben Abati had confirmed Jonathan’s trip to France.
“Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati has issued a statement that the president will be travelling to France today (Friday). That is the fact. The president is not going to Chibok. Simple as that,” the source said.
The source said any presidential visit to Chibok would not be announced beforehand because of the security risks involved.
“If the president is going to Chibok, it will not be advertised in the media. He would have left by the time you hear,” the source said.
“That will just give Boko Haram a great opportunity to organise an embarrassment of international proportions for the president, just to prove a point. You don’t hear President Obama is going to see American troops in Afghanistan or Iraq until he has arrived and departed.”
The source added that the government would not knowingly place the president in danger.
