Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has attacked The Punch newspaper over its criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The newspaper said in an editorial on Wednesday entitled ‘Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand’ that Buhari’s administration would now be referred to as a regime until it purges itself of “insufferable contempt for the rule of law.”
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It also said it would add the prefix, Major General, to Buhari’s title.
Mr Shehu, however, in a statement on Wednesday described the newspaper’s move as “totally curious and utterly incredible.”
He said: “The paper claimed that it is changing President Buhari’s official title to General because of his government’s alleged disregard for the rule of law.
“Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), for that is his title, and he was indeed a Major General, but today retired from that position and now twice democratically elected president of Nigeria – is not the choice of Punch Newspaper’s editors and owners, that is clear.
“He is, however, the two-time electoral choice of the voters of Nigeria, those very people who Punch Newspapers described this morning as “lethargic”: a disdaining epithet apportioned to decent, hard-working, everyday Nigerians for not agreeing with, and for not having voted in line with their publication’s editorial and political opinions.
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“Punch’s editorial today is, however, entirely in line with holding and exercising the right of free speech and freedom of the press, as my friend and colleague, Femi Adesina said earlier today.
“Femi, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity said the fact the Punch can insult the President in a front page editorial and they go home to sleep, peacefully, is the best testimony to the prevalence of the freedom of the press and of expression in the country.
“To quote him, ‘rather than being pejorative, addressing President Buhari by his military rank is another testimony to free speech and freedom of the press, which this administration (or regime, if anyone prefers: it is a matter of semantics) has pledged to uphold and preserve.’
“In countries around the world where this right does not exist, newspapers do not publish articles such as the one Punch did today; nor do they get to express political opinions contrary to that of government. The exact freedoms Punch claims are missing are self-evident here – in print, on the internet – for all Nigerians and the whole world to see.”
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Shehu added that there was nothing wrong with criticising the government but that calling for a revolution was wrong, an apparent reference to the convener of RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore.
“We welcome your contribution to the debate. But we ask you not to throw insults at the good voters of Nigeria for not agreeing to your choice at the last election,” he said.
