A former Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has clarified that there had never been any plan by the former president to undermine the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Shehu spoke on Tuesday in Abuja during a session with newsmen ahead of the official unveiling of his book, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”, scheduled for public presentation on July 9.
There are arguments that President Buhari had delayed fuel subsidy removal untill the last national budget when he was on the verge of exiting power in 2023, to pitch Nigerians against President Tinubu.
Daily Trust reports that Nigerians have been groaning and criticising the Tinubu administration following the hardship and hunger in the land since the president announced in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, that subsidy regime was gone.
But Shehu said those insinuations were wrong, stressing that “Subsidy removal was not planned to undermine the President Tinubu-led government.”
The former presidential spokesman explained that Buhari and Tinubu were both members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and wondered why Buhari couldn’t have possibly indulged in any action to hurt the incoming administration as if it was a transition of power from the APC to another political party.
“Both President Buhari and the incoming President, Bola Tinubu were members of the APC. So we couldn’t have planned to sabotage our own government,” he said.
“President Buhari was above corruption. He came to 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 show man. He wanted his works to impact on Nigerians,” he added.
Shehu said he personally did nothing wrong leaving his former principal, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, to serve in Buhari’s government.
DAILY TRUST.
