Femi Adesina, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, says his principal thought deeply before declaring to run for a second term as president.
He said this in a statement on Tuesday while reacting to a newspaper report entitled “Pressure mounts on Buhari not to seek re-election”.
The reported said countries such as European Union, US, UK and Saudi Arabia were mounting pressure on Buhari not to run in 2019.
But the presidential spokesman said apart from holding Buhari in high esteem, the international community would not interfere in the affairs of Nigeria.
“Under the headline, ‘Pressure mounts on Buhari not to seek re-election,’ the fiction parading as news claims that foreign powers, including the European Union, United States of America, United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia, are putting pressure on President Buhari not to seek re-election, due to some concocted reasons,” the statement read.
“We thought fake news was the sole preserve of the social media in this season. Alas, a traditional medium has caught the bug. Obviously, the author of the story just got a brain wave, or got procured by anti-democratic elements, and then penned the mischief.
“If there are quarters in which president Buhari is held in very high esteem, and the work he is doing for Nigeria highly lauded, it is in the countries mentioned. Some of them are equally bastions of democracy, and will not interfere in the democratic affairs of a sovereign country. The newspaper should simply tell its story to the marines.
“President Buhari is not a flippant or frivolous individual. He gave deep thought to the prospect, before announcing his bid for a second term in office. It is only those who fear that their goose would be cooked, if they meet with him at the polls, that is trying to dissuade him from running by all means, including sponsored newspaper stories.
“By saying it got feelers that President Buhari may opt out of the 2019 presidential election, embarrassed itself, and all those who love good journalism. The newspaper can surely do better.”
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