The Presidency has insisted that no cabal or official can
hijack the powers President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is contained in a statement signed by the senior
special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu...
Shehu insisted that the President is very thorough in
carrying out his responsibilities and looks through every document thoroughly.
“Over the past few months, some media organizations have
published a stream of allegations against some persons around the President
attributing them to “persistent rumors and speculations,” with no other
objective but to generate hatred and disgust against these hardworking people”,
he wrote.
“As the good Nigerian public can imagine, little time would
be left for other tasks more beneficial to the entire nation, if the Presidency
were to respond to every single fable published by the free Nigerian press.
“However, in the process of advancing their suspicious
anti-Buhari agenda, whoever is behind these allegations knowingly or
unknowingly has cast some of the most ridiculous aspersions on President
Buhari’s competence as a leader of a great country.
“To begin with, it is absolutely nonsensical and absurd to
write that in one week of the President’s return, the Vice President has been
sidelined.
“Quite to the contrary, the Vice President remains the
confidante and the closest adviser to the President,” Shehu stated.
According to him, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has
attended all Buhari’s engagements in the last one week, except two functions
including the one held while Osinbajo was away in Taraba State and the Juma’at
Muslim prayer because the Vice President is a Christian.
Shehu added: “It is difficult to understand what anyone
wants to achieve peddling such falsehood that the President, himself a former
military general and Head of State and Commander-In-Chief is subject to undue
influence and manipulation. It is both ridiculous and inconceivable.
“As someone who works very closely with President Buhari, I
can testify to how my years of experience as a newspaper editor are often put
to the test by the sheer thoroughness with which the President edits every
single document brought to his desk. Every memo, statement, speech, is subject
to his intense scrutiny, right down to the placement of commas and full stops.
“Therefore, alleging that President Buhari signs memos
brought to him by government officials or a so-called cabal without reading
them, immediately casts doubts on the credibility of the ubiquitous unnamed
sources that the reporters of these articles quote,” he added.
Shehu also pointed out that the attacks on the President’s
Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari, must be laughed off as crazy.
He said: “The COS is like the headman of all the President’s
political appointees. He has direct responsibility for multiple levels of staff
working for the President.
“Part of his role includes liaising with ministries and
parastatals, so that he can have a full awareness of the issues being discussed
whenever these groups meet with the President. It goes without saying that
anybody who occupies such office has impeccable credentials of total loyalty to
the President.
“Clearly, some consider this oversight role as a usurping of
the President’s powers, and it is their misunderstanding of the situation that
some media organizations have swallowed hook, line and sinker.
“Under this administration, as the ones before it, the
office of the Chief of Staff is a branch of the President’s office. There are
no power centers here. The only power center is that of the President who is
sensitive to grassroots level administration which the Chief of Staff must ensure.
“For Abba kyari, there is no life after work. He is
available to the President 24/7.
“President Buhari is working day and night to steer Nigeria
through these trying times. There are important issues in the hand of
government such as poverty reduction, turning around the economy, creating
jobs, fighting corruption and terrorism, railway, agriculture, roads, power and
rural and urban development that there simply is not enough time to be spent
answering baseless allegations in the media.
“As he builds a new foundation from the mess left behind by
previous irresponsible governments, the President cannot do it alone. He needs
the absolute loyalty of his COS, he needs the acumen of government officials,
he needs the courage and understanding of the Nigerian people, and he needs the
support of institutions such as the media.
“Publishing poorly-researched allegations and trying to pass
them off as investigative journalism or as news may lead to more newspaper
sales or to more clicks on a website; but they will also, in the long run, slow
down the growth and development of our country, which right now requires the
absolute focus of President Buhari and his carefully-selected team to build the
Nigeria of our dreams.
“Unfortunately, this is the path The Punch has chosen and
there’s no one to help them but themselves.
“It is appropriate at this point to dispel the false notion
that anyone has tried to undermine the Vice President when he acted in the
absence of the President. This, I must say with all emphasis, is utter
falsehood.
“As Acting President, Vice President Osinbajo enjoyed the
support of the Villa Staff and the entire cabinet. Otherwise he would not have
succeeded and earn the praises of the President. These are just a few among the
false and illogical accusations making the COS larger than life, with the aim
of pulling him down.
“No Chief of Staff including this one can create hurdles for
a president and survive the next day. The roles and duties don’t warrant the
kind of falsehood being spread.
“When the President was away on the medical vacation, the
Chief of Staff rallied the Presidency behind Professor Osinbajo because he knew
that his boss, President Buhari expected nothing less.
“A careful assessment of some these allegations with a
rational mind will show that there is an orchestrated campaign to smear the COS
and indirectly the President.
“If I can speculate on the matter, I will say that the
problem Malam Abba Kyari has with most people is that he, like the President he
serves, will not throw money at people in order to please them.
“As COS, Malam has refused to keep cash imprest and has
turned down a monthly grant of N200 million customarily given to the office.
This is money freely spent because they were not required to account for what
they did with it.” he stated
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