Garba Shehu

Official Spokesperson to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President @MBuhari (SSA, Media & Publicity). (2015 - 2023)

[Senator Kashim Shettima @officialSKSM]

President @officialABAT has said the life and legacy of the late former President @MBuhari has continued to speak to Nigeria, saying his transformation from military ruler to civilian democrat marked him out as a rare figure in the nation’s history.

He urged political leaders and public officials to emulate the late former President by upholding the values of honesty, simplicity and self-discipline in the discharge of their responsibilities.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja during a prayer session marking the first anniversary of @MBuhari’s death, the Nigerian leader, who was represented by his deputy, Vice President @KashimSM, described the late Buhari as a patriot whose service, character and devotion to the country left an enduring imprint on the nation’s conscience.

According to the President, @MBuhari’s legacy went beyond the offices he occupied, reflecting a lifetime of consistency between his words, principles and personal conduct.

“President @MBuhari gave everything he had to this country, and he gave it without reservation. He served with courage, with conviction, and with a patriotism that never asked what the nation could return to him,” he said.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

…… My advice is that citizens stay calm, record screen-grabs, and report incidents of misleading information and false rhetoric first to the station owners for them to activate their internal controls. After all, regulation is not censorship. Where this fails, they may report to the regulator of broadcasting in Nigeria, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC.  Nigeria’s democracy had never been high quality. But it is, nonetheless, better than an army dictatorship, no matter how benevolent.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

THE IMAM, TOO, MUST CROSSCHECK HIS FACTS

It is widely believed in the Muslim world (and even among non-followers of the religion) that the rise of the digital media has exposed Islam in its true form and meaning directly to the world, through Islamic scholars, lectures, personal testimonies and translations of the Qur’an that people can access with few clicks, after centuries of sometimes deliberate misrepresentation of the religion.
The timing and speed of these technological changes have made for easy availability of information about the religion, breaking down the wall of ignorance and replacing wrong assumptions with knowledge.

The fall side of this is that the internet has equally become a tool in the hands of some individuals, abusing the opportunity it offers of the unrestricted to spread false information to captive audiences, eroding further, our civic and institutional sanity.

An otherwise great scholar and a respected Imam (prayer leader/preacher) paraded by the very laudable Sunnah Television gave an unbearable shock to many of his admirers including me, by making catastrophic remarks that seemed to vandalize his own reputation; remarks one would describe as misleading, incorrect and misplaced on the issues of security and public concern without checking his facts.

In an hour long preaching between 1:00 a.m to 2:00 a.m on Saturday 15th March, he made untrue and inaccurate claims, among which were:
Democracy as a system of government is designed to protect crime, illegal acts, or things that are morally wrong and to, on the other hand, antagonize people who are law-abiding. He claimed that the last time anyone was punished for banditry and terrorism in the country was under the military. This is contrary to the facts on the ground, given the thousands of trials and convictions that have been witnessed over the past few years under this democracy. These would include the life sentence of separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu in 2025 and the conviction of ISWAP members and Boko Haram financiers. By 2023, there were 860 convictions in about eight years.

He claimed that under democratic control, terrorists such as the notorious Turji in Zamfara forests who kill, cannot in turn be killed because the authorities fear sanctions by the international community over their concerns for human rights, meaning, supposedly, that only a military rule can tackle the problem.

Records are there to show that the Nigerian military has killed numerous high-ranking terrorist commanders during its long-running operations against Boko Haram and the Islamic State West of Africa Province (ISWAP).
He made the wrong claim that President Jonathan bought fighter jets but was not allowed to use them against terrorists. I think he meant to say under the Buhari administration because the Jonathan administration he referred to was under a sanctions regime, so they were not allowed to buy those aircraft he was referring to. Truth is that President Buhari, not Jonathan, bought the Super Tucanoes from the US following the lifting that embargo. The conditions for the sale included that they must be used against terrorists in the Northeast only, and were not for use anywhere, including their use against the murderous bandits in the Northwest and other parts of the country who were not, initially, branded as terrorists. To get over the hurdle, the then administration, using the law, classified the bandits as terrorists paving, thereby a way for the lawful use of the bombers against the non-state actors……..

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

New Film on MKO Abiola by a Nigeria-American movie/documentary maker OSE OYAMENDAN. Please watch it!

https://t.co/Ty3QkTJVsH

[Johannes Tobi Wojuola @Johannxs]

President Tinubu made the announcement to remove subsidy at the right time, when he had the highest credibility upon being sworn in -- Mal. Garba Shehu

[Johannes Tobi Wojuola @Johannxs]

Late President Muhammadu Buhari was APC till he passed. He maintained that the party gave him two terms in office, and he cannot betray the party by considering leaving it. -- Mallam Garba Shehu

[Johannes Tobi Wojuola @Johannxs]

"Journalists who attained the greatest heights were those who crusaded."

Lessons from Mallam Garba:

Be curious.

Be knowledgeable about everything.

Don't be proud.

Your greatest assets as a journalist are your sources.

- @GarShehu

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

On Advice to aspiring journalists:
True success in journalism is not driven by greed or money. The journalists who rise the highest are those guided by purpose—fighters for truth, justice, and good causes. Journalism rewards conviction, courage, and integrity far more than profit ever could.

[Johannes Tobi Wojuola @Johannxs]

As a journalist the decision to use a story or drop it, is a power you have. - Mal. Garba Shehu

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

The calm before the conversation.
Getting ready for an evening of dialogue on According to the President at RovenHeights Bookstore.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

It’s happening today.
Join me this evening at RovenHeights Bookstore for an engaging conversation around my book According to the President. Looking forward to great questions and even better dialogue.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Looking forward to an evening of conversation and insight. Rovenheight Bookstore is hosting a special session with me tomorrow on my book According to the President. Hope to see you there.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Looking forward to an evening of conversation and insight. Rovenheight Bookstore is hosting a special session with me tomorrow on my book According to the President. Hope to see you there.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Rest in peace, dearest Tunde Awobiyi.
You were a joy to know and work with.
Gone too soon.
As the Secretary General, when I served as president, Tunde will be remembered as a true legend of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Sunday Times of which he was an iconic editor, and of Nigerian journalism.
Condolences to his family, friends, and admirers.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Fashekun also said: “Without any scintilla of equivocation, General Muhammadu Buhari has never been directly or remotely connected with any insurrection or insurgency against the Nigerian nation and her people. He remains the quintessential patriot that continues to magnetise the very best across the ethno-religious boundaries within the Nigerian nation-space.” The party chieftain accused the PDP of being responsible for the growing insecurity in the country, insisting:

“As we have stated in an earlier communication, the (PDP), as a corporate entity, is the harbinger of the insecurity travails of the Nigerian people for the sole reason of ensuring perpetuity in governance.” Fashekun listed the three categories of Boko Haram and alleged that the PDP-led government is sponsoring one of them.

“From recollection of events of the last two years, there are three variants of the Boko Haram: the original Boko Haram that is at daggers drawn with the Nigerian authority for the extra-judicial killing of their leader; the criminal Boko Haram that is involved in all criminality for economic reasons and of course, the most lethal of all, the Political Boko Haram, which this PDP-led Federal Government represents.

“The President, Dr, Good-luck Jonathan, had once alerted the nation of the ubiquitous presence of Boko Haram in his government, a fact aptly amplified by his erstwhile National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi.” He further drew instances from the revelations made by State Security Service. “Undoubtedly, the latest revelations by the State Security Services (SSS) on the complicity of the top echelon of the PDP leadership in Boko Haram activities aptly bear testimony of the noxious subterfuge to extirpate the essence of our nationhood.”

To win in 2027, Dr. Jonathan should look for a better story to tell Nigerians.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Boko Haram Did Not Nominate Buhari As Their Mediator.

*To be president in 2027, Goodluck Jonathan should look for another story to tell Nigerians.

We are compelled to make a response to a terrible statement made on the late president Muhammadu Buhari by his predecessor in office, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to the effect that Boko Haram had nominated him to represent them in a dialogue with government.

If this is a campaign statement towards his bid for the presidency in 2027, we want to say to him that “Mr. Jonathan, you are making a false start.”

Muhammed Yusuf or Abubakar Shekau, the deceased leaders of the Boko Haram terrorist group, never nominated Muhammadu Buhari for any such role. In fact, Shekau routinely denounced and threatened Buhari, and their ideologies were in direct opposition.

In 2014, Muhammadu Buhari escaped a bomb attack on his life by Boko Haram in Kaduna, in which his personal staff suffered various degrees of injury.
Buhari's campaigns focused on fighting Boko Haram and restoring security to Nigeria whenever he became president, putting him in direct opposition to the terrorist group's leader.

Contrary to the news making the rounds in those years that the radical Islamist extremist –Boko Haram had nominated General Muhammadu Buhari as the mediator between them and the Federal Government of Nigeria in the proposed peace talk, the retired Military General denied knowledge of his nomination.

In a statement issued by the then National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Engr Buba Galadima, Buhari, the national leader of the CPC said he not aware of the appointment: “As at 10pm yesterday (Thursday) when I spoke with him, he said he has not even heard about it,” Galadima said.

Continuing, the party secretary told reporters the “he (Buhari) said the whole thing to him, is just speculation. And since nobody has contacted him as a person for him to even know who is behind what, and what the motives of the whole exercise are, he would not speak to the press.” He revealed that Buhari, the 2011 presidential candidate of the CPC, further told him that as an elder statesman and a patriotic Nigerian, he will continue to pray until peace and tranquillity return to Nigeria.

What led to the misleading information was that a faction of the terrorist group, possibly sponsored by Buhari’s opponents, staged a press
conference in Maiduguri, Borno State, through a certain Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, who claimed to be the Boko Haram commander in charge of Southern and Northern Borno, saying that the sect would prefer the former military leader, General Muhammadu Buhari, ex-Yobe State governor and the then Senator, now late Bukar Abba Ibrahim, first Nigerian Minister of Petroleum, Shettima Ali Monguno, also late, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Insecurity in the North-East, Ambassador Gaji Gatimari, and other prominent members of the Borno Emirate to mediate between them and the federal government.

Abdulaziz was roundly condemned by the leaders of Boko Haram who claimed that he had “no mandate of their leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau.”

Speaking on to the issue , the then CPC national publicity secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashekun, now late, lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for latching on Buhari’s alleged nomination for political reasons.

Fashekun described Buhari’s purported nomination as “the latest gambit in the desire of this organically corrupt PDP-led Federal Government in diverting the attention of the unsuspecting Nigerian public from the on-going massive looting of their common patrimony.”

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Kindly view it and share this link .
https://t.co/HeoKMuVdA6

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

… Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, Kola Adesina and Nasiru Danu.

“We also take this opportunity to thank the entire citizens of this country and those of other nations represented by their missions in Nigeria.

“All of Nigeria came out in force to bury Buhari and condole with us and pray for him. We are deeply grateful for the visits, the condolence messages, and prayers on him. We are thankful to all.

“We respect your prayers as I and the family go through this period. May the Almighty Allah bless and reward you all.”

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

Family Expresses Gratitude To All Who Participated in Buhari’s Burial and Prayers.

The most senior member of the Buhari family, the family of the late President, Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Mamman Daura has, on behalf of the family expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife,the First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu for their role and that of Government of the Federation before, and after the passing of the former president.

“It is truly comforting to receive such support from the President and the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, who went to the United Kingdom, and here in Daura, for the days he and the ministers during the mourning period. These have instilled confidence in all of us to face this loss with courage.

“We are deeply grateful to the President on his thoughtful gestures in declaring a public holiday and renaming the University of Maiduguri after Buhari.

“Our gratitude also goes to leaders of the various countries around the globe who either came in person, sent representatives, sent letters, or placed personal telephone calls to commiserate with us. Of special note were those of the King of England, King Charles 111, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, the Chairman of the African Union, and that of the Committee of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS countries, and our former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar.

“Muhammadu Buhari’s demise is an irreparable loss and its pain is beyond words, but the general reaction and kind expressions give us the strength to cope with the loss of our esteemed family member and former leader of the country.

“The family is equally grateful to Vice President Kashim Shettima in his own person and his wife, and to all state governors, especially those of Katsina, the host governor Dr Dikko Umar Radda; Professor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State and all those who visited us in the UK and Daura from Adamawa, Kano,Kwara, Lagos, Kaduna, Imo, Nassarawa, Bauchi, Sokoto, Kebbi as well as the several former governors, including Dr Peter Obi for their compassionate words of condolence.

Your empathy has touched our hearts deeply, and we are truly grateful for your kindness. “We express our deep appreciations to former Vice Presidents Atiku Abubakar, Architect Namadi Sambo, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as well as to the President of Senate, Godswill Akpabio, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Honorable Tajuddeen Abbas, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin and the other leaders and members of the National and State Assemblies.

“We do sincerely thank the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume and his predecessor in office, Boss Mustapha, the current Chief of Staff, Honorable Femi Gbajabiamila and his predecessor, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, former and serving members of the cabinet in both administrations for their activities in these events and their comforting words.
“We are very pleased with the amazing gestures of our traditional leaders, notably the Sultan of Sokoto, the Shehu of Borno, the Emir of Gwandu and the host emirs of Katsina and Daura, as well as the various emirs and chiefs from all over Nigeria and the neighboring countries who came in person or sent representatives.

“We have been honored by the large turnout of religious leaders, Islamic, Christian and of other faiths, community leaders, women, youth and politicians of various leanings whose surge in Daura was both challenging and reassuring.
The family in Daura is also thanking past and serving security and intelligence, police and military leaders, permanent secretaries, and the rank and file civil servants, community groups and associations, civil society, and the media of communications.

"The expresses it appreciation to the nation's business leaders who visited Daura in the persons of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Abdul Samad Isyaka Rabi’u, Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi,

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

After a state burial like no other, the renaming of the University of Maiduguri after the late President Muhammadu Buhari is an honour well deserved.
Heartening to see this happening in our lifetime in Nigeria. My personal view.

[Garba Shehu @GarShehu]

30th May, 2023. May Allah accept his good deeds.