.Says, I didn’t betray Atiku to serve Buhari
.Tells Oshiomhole, every country, except China, printed currency notes
.Unveils new book on ex-president July 9
Former Senior Special Assistant SSA on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, has denounced suggestions that his principal deliberately laid landmines for President Bola Tinubu so that Nigerians could relieve the former’s presidency with positive nostalgia.
According to him, Buhari “did not place a bomb under the bed for Tinubu” with regards to the removal of the controversial fuel subsidy, explaining that the National Assembly, which represents all Nigerian,s had already removed the subsidy, only making budgetary provision till June 2023.
He said; “Both President Buhari and the incoming president, Bola Tinubu were members of the APC. So,bwe couldn’t have planned to sabotage our own government. President Buhari was above corruption. He came to the government with integrity and left with his integrity intact. He did his best. He did well for the country and history will be kind to him. President Buhari wasn’t a showman. He wanted his works to impact on Nigerians”.
This was as he dismissed insinuations in some quarters that he ditched his former principal, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and therefore betrayed him when he chose to serve as spokesperson to the former president.
Shehu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a media interface to unveil his memoir, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”, slated for public presentation on July 9.
The former President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors NGE explained that all those who contested with Buhari for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress APC in 2014 donated their campaign assets to Buhari after he won the primary election.
He said it was on that basis that Buhari appointed him the spokesperson of the presidential campaign council, and thereafter went on to appoint him as his spokesperson when he won in the general election.
Shehu also dismissed reports that the Buhari administration embarked on indiscriminate printing of currency notes in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, saying governments across the world printed notes to contend with the menace.
On how he joined the Buhari train, Shehu said; “I was with Atiku at the 2014 APC primary in Lagos and we lost the primary. As at that, Buhari had grace to call me to head his media team, as director. This was when all the aspirants who lost at the primary, Tinubu didn’t run, but Kwankwaso, Rochas, late Sam Nda-Isaiah and Atiku. All of them donated their campaign assets, including Asiwaju, who did not run, to the winner of the primary, Buhari, and that is how we came together and form the media campaign team.
“With assets from Asiwaju, Atiku, Rochas and others, we were all donated to him (Buhari) and he had grace to nominate me as the campaign media Director.
“In that election, we ran a very decent campaign and we won. We did not go to the gutters. They really wanted us to go into the gutters and fight dirty but we never. We were fortunate also because Nigerians wanted that change.
”Why will I not attack Atiku while serving Buhari? You learn from people. When Abiola’s election was annulled by IBB, and he eventually died, before then, did anyone of you hear the presidential spokesman accusing him that time? May his soul rest in peace. Did you ever hear him attack Abiola as he worked with President IBB? So, you learn from people and the common sense is that, if I was with Buhari and I attacked Atiku, how will Buhari then trust me? Because he knows that one day I would change to another master and I will go after him. You have to be careful, even if you work with the President who trusted you, the people around him may not trust you.”
Shehu also revealed how the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, went underground when his Obasanjo, came after him.
“I was arrested and detained several times by the DSS, and by an order of a judge, I was thrown into the Kuje prison.
“My trial spanning over two years and the eventual acquittal, the how and why it happened should provide a heads up to journalism practitioners.
“When he won the presidential primary, Muhammadu Buhari graciously asked me to be the media director of the campaign.
“From then onwards, all through the eight years in Villa, we had a contrasting experience because we were the ones that were being fought. A Hausa proverb says if you are eating mangoes, flies will come.”
Atiku underground
Shehu said Vice President Atiku Abubakar went underground during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo his life came under threat.
He said,; “During his second term of office, President Obasanjo declared war on his vice president in a major crisis that sent threats – including the fear of death – flying around
“At some point, the VP himself went underground as you would read it in the book. As the VP’s spokesman, the author chronicles his experiences as a principal officer in the Obasanjo presidency (Office of the Vice President) and his subsequent expulsion; his life as a person of interest to the security agencies, a detainee in the Department of State Service, DSS and the Kuje prison, and the story of his trial in the courts spanning over two years”, he said.(Vanguard)
