Presidency advises opinion leaders to exercise restraint in public utterances

*Describes calling President Buhari enemy of Nigeria in extreme bad taste

*Says criticising President for not responding to restructuring off the mark

*’President has no power to impose restructuring on Nigeria’

Mallam Garba Shehu said while Nigerians were free to express themselves, they should exercise such liberty with restraint and a sense of responsibility.  He said calling President Buhari an enemy of Nigeria is in extreme bad taste, adding that nothing in President’s service record would justify such a language.

The Presidency has advised Nigerian opinion leaders to exercise restraint in their choice of words to avoid heating up the polity and causing acrimony across the country.

This was contained in statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu.

He said the President’s speech on Monday on his return from a medical vacation, is a matter of great satisfaction and that majority of the citizens welcomed the broadcast.

The statement noted that criticizing the President for not responding restructuring of the country is completely off the mark.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President said the President had no power to impose restructuring on the country by military dictate, adding that the National Assembly members were the elected representatives of the people who could handle agitations for restructuring and other constitutional changes.

He explained that the President was constitutionally bound to work with the National Assembly to deal with such complex issues, reminding critics that the President would not exercise arbitrary powers or bypass the legislature in taking such fundamental decisions.

Mallam Garba Shehu said, while Nigerians were free to express themselves, they should exercise such liberty with restraint and a sense of responsibility.

He said calling President Buhari an enemy of Nigeria is in extreme bad taste, adding that nothing in President’s service record would justify such a language.