Buhari not sympathetic to activities of violent herdsmen- Presidency

Presidency Wednesday dismissed insinuations by a media house (Not BusinessDay) that President Muhammadu Buhari is sympathetic to the activities of violent herdsmen, and has been indifferent to their atrocities.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had in his reaction to Punch newspaper’s September 4th, 2018, editorial alleging that President Buhari had sympathy for criminality perpetuated by a misguided group,
said the “editorial was not only disrespectful of the President and his office, but was also reckless, thoughtless, inflammatory and totally irresponsible.”

Shehu observed that it “is steadily becoming clear from the views, news and opinions of this newspaper that it will explore every opportunity and twist every fact to declare every Nigerian and ECOWAS member with Fulani blood a terrorists, who must be stripped of their rights as citizens, or worse subjected to ethnic cleansing.”

Presidency insisted that criminality perpetrated by some miscreants should not be used to demonize other responsible and decent members of the same ethnic group. The collective demonization of any ethnic group because of the misguided behaviour or conduct of criminals is improper and no responsible government will ever do so.

For him, “The Punch editorial is, therefore, sheer blackmail and mischief designed to push its own sinister and unpatriotic agenda disguised as free speech. By inciting the people against an ethnic group because of the criminal activities of a few is unhelpful and deleterious to peace.

He noted that rather than proffer solutions, the editorial only regurgitated simplistic narratives of complex national issues, deliberately neglecting the broader and unbiased understanding and interpretation.

“Currently, a massive and fierce military operation is going on in Zamfara State to neutralise the activities of bandits who have been sacking communities and killing innocent people, and the security outfits have been deployed to safeguard lives and property.

He reiterated that the President’s commitment to the security and wellbeing of all Nigerians is unwavering and total, and no criminal group, herdsmen or ethnic militias, will be spared the wrath of the law.

“In its attempt to build a case against the President and tarnish his hard-earned reputation, the newspaper misquoted and removed from the actual context words attributed to him, one or two of which we wish to clarify here.

“In pointing out that some Nigerians, who dare the desert and the Mediterranean in order to migrate illegally to Europe have to blame themselves, the President had a context, following severe warnings by local authorities that were clearly being ignored. The unfortunate Nigerians were always lured into harmful and unsafe journeys, with high likelihood of death or slavery.”

Tony Ailemen, Abuja