The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, had faulted some Nigerians for calling President Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) to address Nigerians on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adesina made his views known in an article posted on his Facebook page on Friday, title ‘If you can’t take blows brother, don’t throw blows’.
He added that if it were to be former President Olusegun Obasanjo that was in power, he would have insulted those calling on him to address the country.
The article was his reaction to the criticism he received from many Nigerians over the comment he made on a radio programme on 95.1 Nigerians, Info FM Abuja.
The Nigerians have criticized Adesina for saying the fact that they voted for Buhari did not give Nigerians the right to order him around.
The President’s Spokesperson said, “You know what? If it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo that had come under the ‘you must talk to us’ barrage like that, and on live television, he would have first cleared his throat noisily, adjusted himself in his seat, and then bellowed: ‘And who are you, that I must talk to you? I say who the hell are you?
“Who is your father? Who is your father’s father that you are commanding me to talk to you? Were you born when we fought a civil war to keep this country together? Where was your father when I received the instrument of surrender from the Biafra Forces? Don’t come here and tell me nonsense. Talk to us, my foot!
“But President Buhari would not upbraid anyone like that. He rather keeps his peace. And some people have now taken liberty for a license, till they begin to sound like broken records. Yes, no apologies. That’s how they sound.
“The fact that you have voted a man into office is not carte blanche for you to lead the man around by the nose. A leader worth his salt would not even submit himself to such cavalier treatment. Definitely not President Buhari. I made that point clear on the programme.”
According to him, he received several calls from relatives and friends, home and abroad over his outing on the radio programme and was informed that he was attacked on social media.
He added that he would continue to defend the President as a spokesman. Noting that he would not be compelled to answer questions that were not within his purview.
He posited that his employer was not in the habit of talking too much, saying that the three national broadcasts he had done on COVID-19 should be enough.
