Presidency says Buhari has paid his dues to Nigerians, will win election again

*You don’t determine success or failure of game mid-term – Adesina

*Says ‘Coup alarm’ routine warning to soldiers

*Why Dasuki, El-Zakzaky are still in detention – Garba Shehu

*Laws’ll be involved on implementing executive orders – Laolu Akande

“The Army has spoken and let us take that position. What the Chief of Army Staff said was a routine warning that goes to military officers, don’t hobnob with politicians and the Army has explained the position, let’s take that position and not stretch it beyond what the military has said because they are the ones that can give us the definitive position and they have spoken on it,” Femi Adesina said.

The Presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has paid his dues to Nigerians and would win another election resoundingly.

This in itself has elicited comments from our respondents who spoke from across the country agreeing with the statement by the Presidency.

One of them said, “I have not seen any candidate who can stand President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election no matter what anybody says about his health issue.  We did not vote a sick President.  He was hale and hearty when we brought him in as our President to help us to fight our enemies that had plunged us into economic debacle and social insecurity all made possible by endemic corruption.  If he has health issue today, he got due to the heavy task we placed on his chest and he will come out of it and re-contest to win again,” the respondent said.

The Presidency stated this during a joint briefing by presidential spokesmen including the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Senior Special Assistants to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu and Mr. Laolu Akande, respectively, with State House reporters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr. Femi Adesina said Buhari’s government had not failed in fulfilling its promises to Nigerians adding that it was too early and unfair to adjudge a government elected for a four-year tenure as a failure.

He stated: “People can always express their opinions, there is liberty on that, but you don’t have a scientific survey that has given you the percentage of people that believe that the APC has failed. The second point is that, when a government via a party is voted into office, it is voted for a four year term under our own democratic arrangement.

“When you have spent two years which is like a mid-term, the first half of a game, you don’t then determine that it has succeeded or it has failed. No. You can be accused of being atomistic using a small part to determine the whole. You can’t write the report card of this administration when it is just hitting the half-way mark.  That will not be fair.

“The term is four years and the promises are going to be stretched over that four year at period. Like the minister of sports said recently, APC did not promise to solve all the country’s problems in one year or two years. The mandate the party has is four years and it is pacing itself as it goes along and I am sure that by the end of those four years, we will have a lot more to record.

“It is not by a sudden flight, it will not come by a snap of a finger, but will the promises be fulfilled? Yes, I believe it will be fulfilled. This administration will take Nigeria far beyond how it met it. So if anybody says APC has failed, just tell them it is too early in the day because is a four year-term and this is just two years. You don’t reach definitive conclusions in two years.”

On the concerns over alleged ‘coup plot’, Adesina explained that the recent disclosure by the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, was a routine warning to soldiers.

“The Army has spoken and let us take that position. What the Chief of Army Staff said was a routine warning that goes to military officers, don’t hobnob with politicians and the Army has explained the position, let’s take that position and not stretch it beyond what the military has said because they are the ones that can give us the definitive position and they have spoken on it,” Femi Adesina said.

Responding to a question on the complaints of hunger by the ordinary Nigerian, Garba Shehu said ‘there is happiness in the land.”

He said: “Look, the ordinary Nigerian is the most important pillar for the Buhari administration. It is not the rich, and their confidence in the President has remained unshaken all the while. This thing we talk about whistle blower, Nigerians have seen it and Nigerians are happy that their monies that were stolen are being recovered. Look at what we used to have. Boko Haram was active in Abuja. In Kaduna, 20 Okada riders were blown up in one day.

“These were ordinary people. Those who could buy protection for themselves, who could buy bullet proof cars for themselves were not the targets of Boko Haram. It is you and l. Ordinary people who went to church on Sundays, were blown up with bombs.

“In Kano, where l come from, we have one of the biggest markets in West Africa. People come from all over the region to buy and sell. They won’t come if there is no safety. But safety has been restored now. 300 people were blown up one day in the mosque. So, Buhari has paid his dues for Nigeria. If election is held today, we will win. This administration will win resoundingly…There is happiness in the land.”

He said the Federal Government was still detaining a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, because there were many cases against him for which he had not been granted bail.

Shehu also explained that the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim Zakzaky, was still in detention for his own safety, saying there could be violence if he was freed.

Shehu said: “He is being kept more for his own safety. If we set him free today, what would be the reaction in Kaduna where he comes from?Government has a responsibility to ensure his safety. He is not in a prison type of detention. He is in the company of his wife and children voluntarily. Government is being compassionate on this matter. There is an overall public good that government is looking at in this matter.”

He described the human rights records of Buhari’s administration as impeccable and unimpeachable, saying “As we speak to you now, we are not aware that the administration of Muhammadu Buhari is in breach of the constitution of Nigeria with regards to the protection of the rights of Nigerians. Journalists in this country ought to bear testimony on this.

“There is no single journalist expelled from his duty because he has reported or failed to report, there is no single journalist who is in government detention because he has expressed some views that the government does not like. This administration is complying with the decision of the courts of the land, I assure that if anybody tries to do otherwise the president will not allow him to get away with it.”

Shehu said Buhari’s administration was not responsible for the poor power supply in the country.

“It is also a mistake to say power has deteriorated under this administration because when we came in 2015,  power generation it was 3,324MW,  it increased to 4,357MW as at August 2015, barely three months after President Buhari came to power and rose to the peak of 5,077MW in 2016. It was the highest power generated in the country. Presently, the average generation is about 3,000MW. This is as a result of vandalism gas pipeline infrastructure and also low water in our dams.

“The power sector is also gaining gradually from the peace in the Niger Delta. Usually we experience low generation of power during dry season and this is not because of Buhari’s administration.

“Government is investing heavily in power and has been licensing a lot of renewable energy projects, which is the future. We are doing what is called energy mix, we are not just doing gas power, we are doing hydro, etc,” he said.

Laolu Akande, also presidential spokesman in the Office of the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, says existing civil service laws will be evoked to ensure the implementation of executive orders which the Acting President signed last week.

Speaking on Tuesday at a press briefing to commemorate the second anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Akande said the orders were meant to ensure the restoration of the business clime.

He said Osinbajo will meet with about 2000 public and civil servants on Wednesday to interact with them and make them realise the role they ought to play in the implementation of the orders.

“There are rules in the civil service and these rules will be invoked if anyone tries to go against the orders,” Akande said.

“The acting president is meeting with 2000 public and civil servants who will be in charge of the implementation. We want to change the orientation of Nigerians” Akande said.

The newly signed executive orders are targeted at transparency in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Also responding to a question on the fate of the committee set up by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to interface between the executive and National Assembly, Laolu Akande said there has been continuous interaction between the presidency and leadership of the National Assembly, insisting that both arms have a cordial relationship.
Akande also said besides the 200,000 jobs that were offered to unemployed graduates by the administration under the Social Investment Programme, soft loans would also be given to some Nigerians to pursue their private businesses at the end of the month.

He said with the government’s programmes in the agriculture sector, diversification of the economy and micro-credit schemes, among others, Nigeria would exit the recession this year.