2019: Buhari’s spokesman under attack over comments on Lamido

THE Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, has come under attack over comments credited to him on the 2019 Presidential ambition of Alhaji Sule Lamido.

National Coordinator of National Volunteers for Lamido, Mr Umar Danjani Hadeja, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, criticised Garba Shehu over his comments against Lamido.

He said the former governor of Jigawa state, Sule Lamido, had in an interview to a national daily, fielded questions with the media on his presidential ambition and the state of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Hadeja, Lamido also gave some snippets on reasoned insights on President Muhammdu Buhari’s leadership style, the All Progressive Congress (APC) government and the future of Nigeria and the place of her youth in it.

He added that Lamido in the entire gamut of the said interview, which Garba Shehu was reacting to, did not attack the President to warrant the kind of comments credited the Presidential spokesperson.

He said: “The closest Alhaji Sule Lamido came to what might appear as a searing indictment of the widely acknowledged hypocritical anti-corruption posture of the APC- led government was not directed at the EFFC or the ICPC.

“Instead, it was a passing reference to Prof Itse Sagay, an APC appointee’s claims that the APC is made up of thieves. This statement of Sagay is the very same “unforgivable sin” for which the government is dragging every member of the PDP and elected officials to the hang man’s nose.

“Clearly, Garba’s attempted response to the said Sule Lamido interview is yet another classic example of the PR disaster and liability that he now represents for the Buhari administration.

“By falsely accusing Alhaji Sule Lamido of impugning the integrity of, while the government is itself destroying the nation’s judicial system as well as the EFCC, Garba has thrown up the poverty of the government’s effort to water down any serious effort to address our national ills.

“No amount of name-calling, falsehood, character assassination or intimidation will do the trick. Not from Garba Shehu, not from anyone else.

“The APC government must shape up or ship out, or else expect the Sule Lamidos of this Country and they are in the majority now, to continue to call it out.

“Whatever the PDP did, it left the scene over two years ago and that exit provided Nigerians the opportunity to gauge the standard of performance.

“While acknowledging our human frailties, PDP’s 16 years of mistake is far less than the calamity of the last two and half years of the APC in multiple dimensions.

“From the economy, foreign relations where an APC government has decided to make a caricature of the country, its leadership, and people, security, wage theft, misapplication of resources and the lack of vision at all levels. This is a total disaster.

“Garba should encourage the government he serves to investigate those cases instead of chasing shadows and silhouettes. If you check the markets, prices have skyrocketed.

“There is unemployment, poverty, and hunger, which bad effects have shot over the roofs, while some officials including Garba are smiling, as they hide their loots from this government. These stories have become daily doses of media reportage. Time shall tell.

“Please and as a challenge, visit Jigawa State to understand the difference between the Lamido years and the present reality.

“Every visible productive project of stature dotting the entire landscape was initiated and completed by him,” he said.