President Muhammadu Buhari wasn’t given his due and respect as a former Head of State by successive military and civilian regimes in the country, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a widely circulated OP-ED on Boxing Day.
Shehu was commenting on how the opposition PDP has become diametrically opposed to the anti-graft war being waged by the President and how the statutory donation of cars to former Heads of State has been elevated into a tool with which to impugn the President’s reputation.
“The law, cited as the Remuneration of Former Presidents and Heads of State (and other Ancillary Matters), entitles former Nigerian Presidents including General Muhammadu Buhari to “three vehicles to be bought by the Federal Government and liable to be replaced every four years”, said Shehu.
“Cars are just a few in a litany of entitlements written in that law although it is contestable to say that General Buhari had been given his due entitlements by successive administrations as provided thereunder. Regime after regime treated him as if he was not a former Head of State.
“General Abacha came on the saddle and wanted to throw everything at Buhari who, knowing his very nature declined virtually but his military pension. The military in particular treated him so badly that its leaders kept silent when the PDP charged that he didn’t have WAEC papers. One shameless Army Records officer said that the former Head of State had no records at all under their system.
“General Buhari went without a full compliment of armed guards from the army he served at the highest level until the dastardly bomb attack on his convoy in April 2014. It was at this time that the Chief of Army Staff at that time thought it necessary to reinstate the armed convoy to protect him. When they brought the two cars within a few days of his being bombed, the staff of the General were merely informed that this was from the Federal Government in fulfillment of its obligation to him. Since this was an entitlement long-overdue, not minding that it came short of what was expected, there was absolutely nothing wrong on the part of the General for accepting that which was due to him”.
Shehu said the PDP should bow its head in shame for attempting to make an issue out of nothing.
“This hashtag “#Buharigate” was intended as a counterpoise to “Dasukigate,” the phenomenal corruption scheme by which money intended for weapons to fight terror was shared among PDP leaders. It was a fake intervention and a malicious propaganda against the president, obviously intended to detract from his enormously huge reputational capital, the basis on which the APC nation-wide victory was founded”.
“The #Buharigate failed to gain traction because it was seen as an opposition overreach and a desperate attempt to tarnish his hard-earned name and nothing more. No serious blogger therefore paid serious attention to it.
“This baseless allegation that the President had benefitted from the diversion of money intended to fight insurgency under the former National Security Adviser equally underlines the cruel nature of today’s politics, that even the best personal examples cannot keep a leader from the tar brush of the opponent.
“Apart from seeking to mellow the President, I suspect that the opposition had thought these attacks would revive the collapsed fortunes of the PDP while at the same time projecting their leaders as victims of persecution in the hands of the APC administration.
“What however is encouraging in the country today is that Nigerians have thrown their full weight behind the war on corruption. This itself is on account of the constructive nature of the government’s engagement against the vice and the determination with which it is being fought.
“Adding impetus and flavor is the frustration at the routionisation of corruption by the last administration and their inadequate and impotent efforts to curb and punish high-profile offenders”.
Shehu added that “to most Nigerians, the cacophonous opposition is just a media spectacle to distract or mellow the President”.
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