Showing posts with label Garba Shehu. Show all posts

FAYOSE Childishly Obsessed With Incurable Boorish Instincts - Presidency Blasts Over Aisha Buhari False Link

21.6.16 No comments

Premium Times - The Presidency has dismissed as laughable the desperate attempt by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State to link President Buhari’s wife, Aisha, to US Congressman William Jefferson’s bribery scandal for which the American lawmaker was convicted in 2009.

Reacting to Mr. Fayose’s allegations in a press statement, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said ordinarily the presidency would have ignored Fayose because he was a man “childishly obsessed with the desire to grab the headlines and insulting people at will because of his incurably boorish instincts.”

Mr. Garba explained however that the presidency chose to respond on this occasion for the sake of innocent Nigerians who might be misled by Mr. Fayose’s shameless and blatant distortion of facts.

He said ignoring Mr. Fayose carried the risk of giving traction and credibility to outright and brazen falsehoods inconsistent with the status of anybody that calls himself a Governor or leader.

According to Mr. Shehu, Aisha had no direct, indirect or the remotest connection with William Jefferson’s corruption scandal in the United States.

He challenged Mr. Fayose to tell Nigerians if the so-called Aisha whose pictures he proudly, but ignorantly shared, was the same Aisha married to President Muhammadu Buhari, or if the Aisha of his idle imagination had any relationship by blood or any relationship in whatever form with President Buhari’s wife.

Mr. Shehu also challenged Mr. Fayose to produce evidence from the records of investigation and subsequent trial of Jefferson to prove that Mr. Buhari’s wife Aisha was in anyway linked to that scandal. He explained that common names alone were not enough to automatically link innocent people to crimes or scandals, especially in an era of identity thieves.

He further challenged Mr. Fayose to show proof when and where Aisha Buhari was invited for interrogation in connection with Congressman William Jefferson’s bribery scandal, let alone indicted for a crime locally or abroad.

According to the presidential media aide, free speech does not entitle Governor Fayose to falsely accuse innocent people of crimes they knew nothing about.

He warned Fayose that Aisha Buhari was entitled to protect her reputation from being recklessly maligned, adding that political opposition was not a licence to attack people’s reputation brazenly without legal consequences.

Mr. Garba explained however that the presidency chose to respond on this occasion for the sake of innocent Nigerians who might be misled by Mr. Fayose’s shameless and blatant distortion of facts.

He said ignoring Mr. Fayose carried the risk of giving traction and credibility to outright and brazen falsehoods inconsistent with the status of anybody that calls himself a Governor or leader.

According to Mr. Shehu, Aisha had no direct, indirect or the remotest connection with William Jefferson’s corruption scandal in the United States.

According to the presidential media aide, free speech does not entitle Governor Fayose to falsely accuse innocent people of crimes they knew nothing about.

Buhari's Certificate Suit: Presidency Threatens Litigant Lawyer

19.6.16 No comments

Photo Credit: Vanguard News

The Presidency has threatened legal suit against Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha, a lawyer over extra-judicial public proclamation on a pending suit on President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate.

Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, on Sunday in a reaction on behalf of the Presidency in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

Shehu warned the lawyer that if he did not stop his “unfair and professionally inappropriate abuse of free speech”, the President’s lawyers would use the instrumentality of the law in dealing with his unethical actions,

He stated that “The two-pages interview splashed on pages 56-57 of ThisDay edition of Saturday June 11th breaches a lawyer’s ethical code and we hope that the court and the Bar Association will take notice of this.”

He said, “Newspaper pages are not alternative courts where a lawyer can declare anybody guilty of anything when the court has not formally given a definitive judgment on an issue before it.

“The two-page interview published on Saturday, June 11 breaches lawyers’ ethical code and we hope that the court and the Nigerian Bar Association will take notice of this.”

The Presidential Media Aide said “any lawyer that sincerely believes in judicial process and the rights of other parties to a case would not have engaged in the inappropriate and unprofessional practice of trial by media, especially a situation where Nwokocha openly declared the President guilty when the court didn’t make that declaration.”

Malam Shehu noted that “gag orders emerged in the United States on account of lawyers’ inappropriate conduct on trying and convicting people on the pages of newspapers or the court of public opinion.”

The Presidential Media Aide noted that “free speech is not synonymous with recklessness and wanton abuse of the rights other parties to a case in court.”

He also said that “The litigant’s unabashed claim that he was a card-carrying member of the opposition PDP which lost power in the last election clearly indicates a scheme that seeks power by circumventing the democratic process of elections.”

Malam Garba Shehu said “if Nwokocha has not stopped his unfair and professionally inappropriate abuse of free speech, the President’s competent team of lawyers will seek the instrumentality of the law in dealing with his unethical actions.”

He said “you cannot be a litigant and be a Judge at the same time.”

Photo Credit: Vanguard News

The Presidency has threatened legal suit against Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha, a lawyer over extra-judicial public proclamation on a pending suit on President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate.

Mallam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, on Sunday in a reaction on behalf of the Presidency in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

He said, “Newspaper pages are not alternative courts where a lawyer can declare anybody guilty of anything when the court has not formally given a definitive judgment on an issue before it.

“The two-page interview published on Saturday, June 11 breaches lawyers’ ethical code and we hope that the court and the Nigerian Bar Association will take notice of this.”

The Presidential Media Aide noted that “free speech is not synonymous with recklessness and wanton abuse of the rights other parties to a case in court.”

He said “you cannot be a litigant and be a Judge at the same time.”

FG Breaks Silence On Reported Scrapping of NYSC Scheme

6.6.16 No comments

The Federal Government has denied reports credited to it that it has scrapped the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC Scheme, describing the reports as unfounded and legally illogical.

Some news media platforms, News Punch not inclusive have reported that the scheme which was established since 1975 by then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd), has been scrapped by President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside post-UMTE.

However, the presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu described the story as unfounded and legally illogical.

Garba Shehu, said while reacting to the rumour.

“NYSC is a creation of the law. Only another law can repeal it,”

The Federal Government has denied reports credited to it that it has scrapped the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC Scheme, describing the reports as unfounded and legally illogical.

However, the presidency, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu described the story as unfounded and legally illogical.

Garba Shehu, said while reacting to the rumour.

“NYSC is a creation of the law. Only another law can repeal it,”

REVEALED: The Untold Reason Buhari Aborted Lagos Trip

23.5.16 No comments

Contrary to reason attributed to the aborted two days working visit to Lagos State by President Muhammadu Buhari, report according to Ripples Nigeria suggests that there may be more to it.

The 2-day visit, which already had elaborate preparations put in place, was billed to commence on Monday, May 23.

The Presidency, through the office of the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said on Sunday that Buhari’s scheduled visit had been put off because of “scheduling difficulties”. It added that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, would stand in for Mr President as the event had been scaled down.

‘’The President is faced with scheduling difficulties and that is the reason for the postponement of the visit. He needs more time for Lagos and for Edo which had earlier been stepped down.

“The truth is that the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, will now represent the President in Lagos, said Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

It was gathered from sources close to the Presidency that health concerns top the reasons President Buhari has stayed away from the much publicized event. Speaking on condition of anonymity, our source said, “Oga is feeling a bit under the weather and has been advised to take some rest. It’s very unfortunate that he got indisposed just a day to his official trip to Lagos. He should be back on his feet shortly.”

He dispelled rumours which had gained ground about the trip being called off because of security concerns.

“There is no truth in that. While intelligence at the disposal of security agencies clearly showed that the President could be up for some minor embarrassment along the routes he was scheduled to travel in the metropolis, they were not sufficient to make him abort the trip,” he said.

Contrary to reason attributed to the aborted two days working visit to Lagos State by President Muhammadu Buhari, report according to Ripples Nigeria suggests that there may be more to it.

The 2-day visit, which already had elaborate preparations put in place, was billed to commence on Monday, May 23.

‘’The President is faced with scheduling difficulties and that is the reason for the postponement of the visit. He needs more time for Lagos and for Edo which had earlier been stepped down.

“The truth is that the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, will now represent the President in Lagos, said Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

He dispelled rumours which had gained ground about the trip being called off because of security concerns.

Buhari Signs No LOAN DEAL But Investment With China - Presidency

17.4.16 No comments

Contrary to initial media reports, the Presidency on Saturday said President Muhammadu Buhari did not sign any loan deal with the Peoples Republic of China during his just-concluded one-week working visit to the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, gave the clarification in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH.

Ahead of Buhari’s trip which started last Sunday, there were media reports that he would sign a $2bn loan deal with China during the visit as the Federal Government sought funds to finance the over N2tn budget deficit.

Reuters had reported that Adesina confirmed that loan agreement would be signed but he could not say how much until it was signed.

But the presidential spokesman told our correspondent on Saturday that there was no iota of truth in the report.

“There was no loan deal during the President’s visit to China. All that is coming are investments into Nigeria,” he stated.

At the conclusion of the visit on Friday, the Presidency had said the President’s trip yielded over $6bn additional investments for Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Shehu said the President believed that the agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit would have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy, including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

He said, “In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55m for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

“A total of $1bn is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250m deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storeyed high rise complex and a $2.5bn agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.”

According to the presidential spokesman, other agreements announced and signed during the visit included $1bn for the establishment of a hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

He added that the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200m for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

“An agreement valued at $363m for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi State was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500m project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25m facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

“About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum, which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China,” Shehu added.

Punch Newspaper