Garba Shehu: Nobody can bring down Buhari’s government

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, says nobody can bring Buhari’s government down.

He said this in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Friday.

There have been agitations by secessionist groups, declaring parallel governments.

Shehu said the current administration is addressing multiple challenges in the country but the opposition is taking advantage of the challenges.

He said while people have a right to tell the government the truth, they should be careful in doing so.

He advised those with political ambitions to wait until the end of the Buhari administration in 2023.

“I want to assure Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is addressing multiple challenges that are facing the country especially in dealing with security and yet we are still making progress in agriculture, economy, anti-corruption,” he said.

“It is sad for the country that opposition is exploiting some of these things. It is quite unfortunate and I want to assure that the president remains focused in preserving the security and unity of this country.

“We accept that dissent is allowed, this is a democracy and people have a right to tell truth to government but we must be careful in doing that. Nobody can bring down the government because this is a government elected democratically.

“Government in a democracy come through periodic elections and if we have a government in office as we have, sponsored by political parties to win the elections, it is telling you that that confidence of the public is still there.

“People with strong ambitions, wait till four years, in fact, in our case, two more years to go to election and President Buhari will not be a candidate in that election.”

While addressing protests by parents of the recently abducted Afaka students, Shehu said he was deeply touched by their outcry but  noted that paying a ransom would only make kidnappings more rampant in the country.

“So long as we continue to pay money, it will continue to thrive and one of us will ever be safe in this country. This thing about payment to captors of innocent citizens is something that has to end for kidnapping to end,” he said.

“Some arrests are ongoing, nothing is finalised as we speak now.”