Presidency has debunked claims of foreign pressures on President Muhammadu Buhari to drop his second term re-election bid.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement, described the claim as “a tendentious story”
Reacting to a story published in one of the National Dailies ( Not BusinessDay) , under the headline, ‘Pressure mounts on Buhari not to seek re-election,’ Adesina said “ Buhari cannot be pressured not to seek re-election, due to some concocted reasons”
“ The fiction parading as news claims that foreign powers, including the European Union, United States of America, United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia, are putting pressure on President Buhari not to seek re-election, due to some concocted reasons.”
According to him, “We thought fake news was the sole preserve of the social media in this season. Alas, a traditional medium has caught the bug. Obviously, the author of the story just got a brain wave, or got procured by anti-democratic elements, and then penned the mischief.”
“If there are quarters in which President Buhari is held in very high esteem, and the work he is doing for Nigeria highly lauded, it is in the countries mentioned.”
He noted further that some of them are equally bastions of democracy, and will not interfere in the democratic affairs of a sovereign country. The newspaper should simply tell its story to the marines.
Adesina who said President Buhari is not a flippant or frivolous individual, added that the President had given deep thought to the prospect, before announcing his bid for a second term in office.
“It is only those who fear that their goose would be cooked, if they meet with him at the polls, that are trying to dissuade him from running by all means, including sponsored newspaper stories.”
“By saying it got feelers that President Buhari may opt out of the 2019 presidential election, Daily Independent embarrassed itself, and all those who love good journalism. The newspaper can surely do better.
