THE Presidency has assured that there is no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari was working towards an interim government or the truncation of democracy, insisting that elections would hold as scheduled.
A statement by the President’s spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Friday, February 17 in Abuja, said Buhari would never be a party to the truncation of democracy that he had helped to keep alive, not only here at home and in West Africa, but also throughout the continent, stressing that the talk of interim government and truncation of democracy was way off the mark and those peddling it stand to gain nothing, “nothing at all, but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.”
According to the statement: “Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda Chief of Adolf Hitler, said, ‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.’ This was in the 1930s, before the internet was birthed.
“Let us clearly, specifically and emphatically state that there is absolutely no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is working towards an interim government or even worse, the truncation of democracy, democracy that he has helped to keep alive not only here at home, in West Africa, but throughout the continent.
“The talk of interim government and truncation of democracy is way off the mark. Those who peddle it stand to gain nothing, nothing at all, but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.
“It is another dangerous dimension by people who are afraid that they may lose their elections.
“Everybody is aware that there is a lot of pressure on everyone, all of us, the party, its elected officials, its candidates and law enforcement agencies, following the way the currency swap has gone, but the way to go is not to panic.”
The presidential spokesman acknowledged that the country was facing socio-economic challenges due to the ongoing currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), however, maintaining that the solution to the problem was not sending the citizens into confusion, as the President had since opened several avenues for consultation with leaders and groups across the country.
“There is indeed a problem and nobody will pretend that it doesn’t exist.”
