Every President Has People Who Advise Him – Garba Shehu

Posted by: Folamidavid in News, Politics Dec 24, 2019

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said there is a cabal within the presidency.

According to him, all presidents have people who advise them so it is not a sin.

He added that the word “Cabal” has only being tarnished to destroy their own good standing in Nigeria.

His words, “What is the meaning of a cabal? I just googled the Thesaurus and among many other definitions, what they are saying is that a cabal means ‘conspire, intrigues, mystique, occult, secret,”

“There is no government in this country that we have had that some people were not accused of being a cabal in that government and it is because every administration and every president must have a secretariat.

“Every president must have people who advise him. It is not a sin, it is not an offence to have people that you take into confidence.

“Elsewhere, they call it ‘kitchen cabinet,’ but in our own country, we are being derogatory and we term them cabals so that it will tarnish their own good standing.”

“Some of them have no need to be around government. In fact, to some of our elite, the president is a bad man because you cannot go to him and say give me oil well and he will sign the paper and give you.

“So, we understand the game that is playing out and there is always a price, in any case, to pay for that kind of exposure. Even the kind of things that are being said of the president himself, if he did not offer himself to serve, people would not even have the chance to say them against him. So, we will live with it, we will accept it because it goes with the territory,”

On the social media bill, “There is a need to protect vulnerable members of the society. There is a need to protect those in the minority, whether tribal or religious, in our own country.

“So, it makes sense that you, as media stakeholders, come around the Minister of Information and Culture and formulate the kind of regulation you want so that it is not a top bottom approach, so that government will not be accused of imposing a regulatory mechanism on the media.

“The minister is saying come, sit down with me and let us talk about it. And I was told that the day he called on members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, they walked out on him. If that report is true, I think it is very unfortunate.”