No pressure on Buhari to drop 2019 bid – Presidency

The Presidency has refuted news reports making the rounds in the media that there were pressure from the international community on President Muhammadu Buhari to shelve his second term bid in the 2019 general elections.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, on Tuesday, said that it was necessary to respond to “a tendentious story published today as cover choice by Daily Independent Newspaper under the headline; Pressure mounts on Buhari not to seek re-election”.

The fiction parading as news, he observed, 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.

“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,” Femi said.

According to the presidential spokesman, 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.

Adesina said that some of the countries mentioned in the report are equally bastions of democracy, and would not interfere in the democratic affairs of a sovereign country.

He said, “The newspaper should simply tell its story to the marines. 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 are 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 elections, Daily Independent embarrassed itself, and all those who love good journalism. The newspaper can surely do better”.