Femi Adesina: Those saying Buhari lacks empathy do not know him

Femi Adesina, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, has defended the refusal of his principal to visit Benue and other states under herdsmen attacks.

Worried by Buhari’s seeming reluctance to visit Benue where over 80 persons have been killed in this year alone, some Nigerians have accused the president of lack of sympathy regarding the killings.

Reacting to such accusations, Adesina said the president is more concerned about ensuring the killings do not happen again.

Speaking on a Channels TV programme on Friday, he also said the president feels “depressed” about the killings.

“Those who allege lack of empathy don’t know the president. We that work with him know him and we know how touched the president can be by things like that,” he said.

“Personally, I know how he feels about these killings, I know how depressed and crestfallen he has been about it.

“The fact that he has not reacted as some other presidents would have reacted by going to the place does not mean it does not touch him.

“The president would rather ensure that this does not happen again, and it has reflected in things he has done. He would rather want his actions to speak for him, than mere words.”

On insinuations that the president does not keep abreast of happenings in the country, Adesina said the president is also updated on issues by his constituents.

He recalled a situation 2016 when there was “talk of hunger in the country”.

“One evening I went to see him, and I told him, ‘Mr President there is this noise all over the country of hunger, he told me ‘I am aware. I have a constituency. People from my own constituency pass the word to me and tell me that things are tough.

“So it is not as if he is not aware (of happenings in the country), he is.”