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| Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu |
He said the authors of the media contents suggesting that Buhari was not in charge of his government were only endorsing the claims by the opposition.
Shehu said this in a statement he made available to journalists titled “President Buhari’s critics should appreciate due process.”
He wrote , “As many detractors have done lately, these ‘influencers,’ “celebrated columnists’ and ‘editorial comments’ do no more than endorse the opposition’s utterly wrong and fallacious position that the President is not in charge of his government.
“Sometimes, we are forced to wonder whether some writers are mindful of the implication of words for the strategic and territorial interests of the nation.
“An entrenched culture of dissent in our country is not something that anyone, not least a Buhari Presidency wants to stamp down.
“The fact that these baseless and appallingly mischievous attacks can freely be aired is itself evidence of the right to freedom of expression prevailing in the country today.
“Whether it is Ibrahim Magu, Godswill Akpabio, NDDC, NSITF and the others, Nigerians are bound to hold differing opinions, write letters, opinion columns, editorials and even stage lawful protests.
“What is sometimes worrisome is that several of these comments, disguised as objective criticisms are merely speaking the language of the opposition - the people who ruined the country during their 16 years of corruption on an industrial scale.
“These detractors pick up isolated issues like the ones in the EFCC, NDDC, and incidents of crime and corruption which have been with the country for years, and without any serious effort to uncover them, paint them a phenomena orchestrated and happening because President Buhari’s administration has decided to pursue cases of suspected wrongdoing in the anti - corruption agency, pension funds, NDDC and other government agencies.”
Shehu argued that Buhari’s government was the first to point out the obvious embarrassment that potential acts of wrongdoing by the EFCC leadership could cause . He wondered if critics expected Buhari to cover up the suspected scandals by not ordering audits and investigations so that they can accuse him of cover up later.