The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu has said his principal is not eager to exchange words with the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal.
Shehu was reacting to Lawal’s claims on Thursday, that he was not aware of his suspension.
Speaking in an interview with Television Continental, Shehu explained the processes by which Buhari removes some of his appointees and insisted that nobody is fired on the radio or television.
“Our idea is not to engage in back and forth on this matter. Again, let me just give you this account, the tradition of President Muhammadu Buhari in dealing with all of the removals, including those of the military and so in, he has instituted a practice by which nobody hears of their own removal from office on the radio or television.
“He insists that each individual must be informed beforehand, so that they will let members of their family and staff know, and I am aware that the statement did not go out as early as it was issued because all of the parties needed to be contacted before it was issued, and it didn’t go out until exactly 1pm.
“What has happened has happened, we will not engage the SGF in any exchanges except to say that the president has set a very strong and a strict record since he came to office. Nobody will be fired on radio or changed from their position via the mass media, they must be informed, and I am aware that as early as 10 o’clock this statement was ready but it never was issued until 1pm but the idea was that all of them must be reached, informed that this had happened.
“On the contrary, it is a testimony to the president’s strict adherence to the due process of the law, to fairness and equity, because if the president was in a haste and he felt under pressure, he would have removed or sent the SGF on suspension on the basis of the interim report.
“But having seen that this report was an interim one, the Senate, they knew that they owed it to the president to prve it, to put before him a final report, which as I speak to you hasn’t come in as at now. I’m not blaming them for the delay in this action, but if the president had received that final report earlier than now he would have acted on it.
“However, it would seem to me that the president is now determined to get his own report and on the basis of which he now asked the Vice President to go and investigate and report back to him,” Shehu said.
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