Spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, on Friday expressed his sympathies with Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, saying “It is very difficult to sell a bad product.”
Baba-Ahmed, who also featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Friday, spoke after Shehu, who was also a guest on the programme, had said some persons would fail in their bid to bring down the government of President Buhari.
While reacting to the secession moves of agitators such as Sunday Igboho and Asari Dokubo, Shehu said some “charlatans” were being sponsored to bully the president, thinking he will be forced into submission.
Igboho had recently declared that the SouthWest is no longer a part of Nigeria and Dokubo also announced establishment of Biafra Customary Government in which he incorporated some parts of the South East and South South as part of its territory.
While the actions of the separatist agitators have generated a lot of reactions, the Presidential Spokesperson attributed their actions of the “charlatans” to opponents of the government.
But Baba-Ahmed told viewers on the TV programme is that what he really wants from President Buhari is for him to do his job and not to keep blaming others for things that are wrong in his government.
According to the Northern Elders Forum Spokesperson, “First of all, I must say that I have a lot of sympathy for Malam Garba Shehu because it is very difficult to sell a bad product. He is doing his job; his job is to make the administration look good. But Nigerians know how things are.
“There is no need to label critics as people who are overambitious, who want to bring down the country.”
