Presidency: Buhari did NOT cancel Kyari’s memos — it’s fake news

Presidency has described as “fake” reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled 150 memos signed off by his late chief of staff, Abba Kyari.

A website had reported on Sunday that Buhari cancelled memos and appointments by Kyari and set up a panel to review them.

This was later amplified and made to trend on Twitter before it was published the following day by The Guardian newspaper, which edited the story a number of times.

However, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, in a statement on Tuesday evening, denied the report and assured Nigerians that Buhari has never abdicated his powers to anybody.

Shehu said: “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to media reports alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled a number of memos and appointments signed off by his former Chief of Staff. Not surprisingly, these reports have quoted unnamed sources.

“There is not a grain of truth in these reports and Nigerians should please ignore the insinuations behind them.

“President Buhari was duly re-elected by Nigerians in February 2019. He has not and will never cede to anyone else, that power and trust given to him by the Nigerian people.”

TheCable understands that there are currently intense intrigues in Aso Rock over appointments as different blocs jostle to take control after Kyari’s death.

“Some people have candidates they will want in certain positions, so they launched the fake news and got their foot soldiers on Twitter and in the traditional media to create the impression that Kyari made appointments without the president’s approval,” a presidency official had told TheCable on Sunday evening when the report first appeared.

“If you know how memos are done, it is impossible for the chief of staff to issue one that is not approved by the president. All critical appointment letters, such as the ones for boards and chief executives, are issued by the secretary to the government of the federation based on the president’s written approval.

“What the chief of staff does is to write a memo to the SGF on behalf of the president and attach a copy of the president’s approval to it. No SGF will issue any letter without a copy of the president’s approving instrument.”

Kyari died on April 17 from COVID-19 complications.