#MediaChat: “I, as the president, don’t know if he is dead or alive” – Jonathan opens up on Abubakar Shekau

President Goodluck Jonathan shocked many Nigerians this evening while answering questions from a posse of journalists during the Presidential Media Chat saying he is not sure if the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau is dead or alive.

[READ: SAD NEWS: Boko Haram insurgents murder Yobe school students in their sleep (VIEWER DISCRETION)]

President Jonathan who has answered questions bothering on the economy, his political ambition as regards the 2015 presidential elections, electricity generation and transmission, spoke about the senseless killing of several students at the College of Agriculture in Yobe describing it as “unfortunate”.

[READ: Dead or alive? Report detailing how Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau may have spent his last days]

When asked pointedly about the status of the Boko Haram leader, Jonathan replied saying, “I, as the president, don’t know him, and don’t know if he is dead or alive; you journalists will know more than us.”

[READ: Is Shekau dead or alive? New video raises fresh doubts about the whereabouts of Nigeria’s most wanted man]

There has been a bit of a back and forth argument over Shekau’s status with the Islamic militant leader coming out a few days ago in a purported video declaring that he is alive contrary to reports by the Nigerian Army suggesting otherwise.

[READ: Cameroon gendarmes may have killed Shekau, not the JTF (Report)]

Many stakeholders are, however, wondering how safe the citizens are if the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces is seemingly not in possession of the single most important information needed in the fight against Islamic militant insurgents wreaking havoc mainly in northern Nigeria – the status of Abubakar Shekau.