As the current administration winds down after two terms of eight years in office, the presidency has again defended President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard, giving him a pass mark.
The president’s special adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the Buhari administration has done its best in tackling Nigeria’s multifarious security challenges.
He stressed that President Buhari is leaving the country “far better” than he met it when he assumed office in May 2015.
Adesina, a former editor-in-chief of Sun newspaper, was appointed as presidential spokesman in May 2015 — hours after Buhari took over power. He was reappointed in August 2019 after Buhari was elected for a second term in office.
Speaking yesterday in an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Adesina said the good performance of his principal is not in doubt.
“In 2015, we knew where Nigeria was. A minimum of 17 local governments in this country were under the control of insurgents,” he said.
Asked whether the situation has improved, he said, “Far better. The figure has been coming down progressively over the years and it’s a fact of history. Nobody can change it.”
He also stated that the appointment of service chiefs is not subject to ethnic balancing and the federal character principle, and that President Buhari has the prerogative to appoint those he feels are competent and can do the job of securing Nigeria against terrorists and bandit attacks.
“Don’t subject security to ethnic balancing, don’t subject security to federal character. In fact, the constitution that prescribes federal character even gives the President some prerogatives that he can appoint on his own,” he said.
Buhari, who is from Katsina in North West Nigeria, had been criticised for favouring northerners in his appointments. Last November, during campaigns for the 2023 elections, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, criticised Buhari over what he described as the lopsided appointment of heads of security agencies by his administration, noting that 17 heads of various security agencies hail from the North.
And despite being confronted with verifiable data – that between May 2015 and May 2022, over 55,000 Nigerians were killed by terrorists, bandits, and armed gangs – Adesina insisted that the president was leaving the security situation of the country better than he met them in 2015, saying when Buhari came to office, terrorists were occupying the palaces of emirs in parts of the north.
According to him, “Talking of control, I mean they were sitting in emirs’ palaces; they were sitting in the seats of the local government chairmen. NYSC could not even do orientation; they could not even post people to those places.
“Is that what happens today? No. The emirs are back in their palaces. The local government chairmen are back in their offices. NYSC orientations are opening in those states and corps members are being posted to those states. Are you now telling me there has been no improvement? No, let’s be factual.”
On the issue of the presidential fleet, he said President Buhari did not promise to sell off the fleet during his campaign for office in 2015.
Adesina also said the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah who stated it, cannot prove that the President made such a promise before his election.
LEADERSHIP reports that Kukah, in his 2023 Easter Message, had berated the President, saying, “As you prepare to return to Daura or Kaduna, I do not know if you feel fulfilled or that you met the tall dreams and goals you set for yourself such as: ending banditry, defeating corruption, bringing back our girls, belonging to everybody and belonging to nobody, selling off our presidential fleet and travelling with us, etc.”
However, reacting to Kukah’s claims, Adesina said the cleric is too partisan and his opinions are coloured by politics.
“He (Kukah) talked about selling the presidential fleet. Was that ever promised? You know that in 2015, there were a rash of promises made that even the candidates did not know about. So, how can he start claiming that he promised that?” the presidential spokesman queried.
“Selling off our presidential fleet, let him (Kukah) prove that the President made that promise. President Buhari promised to look at the presidential fleet which he did. Helicopters were given to the Air Force, and two or three jets were sold off,” he said.
He said that was cutting off excesses as opposed to what some people expected, which was selling off all the jets and start flying the Nigerian Airways, if it still exists.
On fighting corruption and banditry, Adesina said Buhari has done his best in security the country and combating graft, adding that Nigeria was not where it was in 2015 when the President came into office.
“Are we where we were on the issue of banditry in 2015? The job is not fully done but are we where we were? If Fr Kukah is true to himself and true to his calling, he will know that this country is not where it was in 2015,” he said.
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