Aji Bukar Online (2024)

28/01/2023

Congratulation on your achievement Sir, you made us so proud, you have proved your worth, you are truly out of the crowd, stay happy and blessed, wishing you a joyful matriculation ceremony, more success in your education pursuit. it's not a dream anymore, it's a reality. Congratulation for getting what you really wanted. Happy PhD matriculation ceremony of ANAN University kwall, plateau State 🙏🙏

16/08/2020

HADA HANNAYE AKE, SAI A SAMU NASARA GABA DAYA...

Kamar Yadda DOP Bosho ya nuna bacin ransa lokacin daya hango kurtun dan sanda na karbar cin hanci a cikin wannan Bidiyon, har ma ya gargadeshi akan lallai kada ya kara tare talakawa yana cutarsu, irin hakan ne zai temaka wajen kawo sauyin da ake fata a kasarmu...

Lallai ne mu al'umma dasu shugabanni mu kyautata muamula a tsakanin mu kuma muyi gaskiya a ayyukanmu, hakan zai karawa kasarmu daraja..

Sako ne mai mahimmanci daga Bakin DPO Bosho, wanda Team SAKAMAKON CANJI s**a dauki nauyi...

02/08/2020

Happy Eid- El- Kabir 2020 May Allah be kind to us and bless all of us with good health, peace, prosperity and joy this Eid. That's my wish on this bless occasion. May Almighty Allah shows many more years Ahead.

24/07/2020

President Buhari receives in audience Yobe State Governor H.E. Mai Mala Buni accompanied by Former Speaker Yakubu Dogara in State House on 24th July 2020

29/05/2020

Alhamdulillah, we withnessed another milestone in the history of yobe state, as two aeroplane landed at Yobe International Cargo Airport for test landing. Congratulation His Excellency Former Governor senator Alh Ibrahim Geidam and His Excellency Governor Mai Mala Buni, we wish them success in their political career, Let's join hand to support them.
{ It's a Next level beginning}

29/05/2020

President Buhari receives in audience Sokoto State Governor H.E. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal over recent Security Challenges in the State in State House on 29th May 2020

President Muhammadu Buhari with Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari in State House on 29th May 2020

29/05/2020

WE’RE STILL FOCUSED ON DELIVERING MANDATE FOR CHANGE – PRESIDENT BUHARI

On the first year anniversary of his second term in office, President Muhammadu Buhari assures all Nigerians that the mandate for change remains relevant and will be steadily followed to improve livelihoods.
The campaign had been hard fought; yet the mandate the people of this country gave him was decisive. He won that election with a distance of nearly four million votes or 15 per cent of the total votes cast over his closest opponent.
It was then - and is today - a mandate for change.
For many years Nigerians have yearned for something different: less of the corruption and immoral greed of those who once governed; more decency in public life and fairness, and a chance to succeed. Nigerians yearned for improved security and end to terrorist bombings and for long-delayed infrastructure.
Day by day, step by step, the President and his team are making the change that Nigerians have demanded.
And it is a demand. Elected officials are servants, not masters. They govern at your discretion. The authority is yours to grant - and it is yours to take away.
Since last year, President Buhari strived to implement the plan you endorsed with your votes. He has overseen an increase in foreign investment; construction of new roads, bridges and rails, and put structures in place to improve employment, and accomplished the diversification of the national economy through a massive growth in agriculture. The President secured the long-overdue return of taxpayers’ monies from overseas, stolen in the 1990s, and put this to use in supporting citizens in dire need.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures implemented to stem and halt its spread, much of what the administration strives for and delivered may seem at risk. President Buhari realizes the burden so many citizens carry just to make ends meet, and the suffering they endure.
The President assures Nigerians that this too shall come to pass.
As he said in a recent speech: “we are bolstering our capacity to contain the virus. Soon, when we overcome our present troubles, the work to build Nigeria will start anew. And as we do, we find ourselves before the gates to a new, post-Covid world.
“Thanks to reforms in governance, our war on corruption and the hard work and trust of the Nigerian people, we are better positioned as a nation than ever before to seize new opportunities that await us to trade, build, make and export with the world.
“I thank you, the people of Nigeria, for your wisdom and your determination for change. We go forward, together”.

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
May 29, 2020

28/05/2020

YOU SERVED MERITORIOUSLY, PRESIDENT BUHARI HAILS CONSUL-GENERAL, GODWIN ADAMA, AT 60

President Muhammadu Buhari warmly felicitates with Nigeria’s Consul-General in Johannesburg, South Africa, Godwin Adakole Adama, on his 60th birthday, congratulating him for many years of courageous and meritorious service to the nation.

The President joins family, friends and professional colleagues of the diplomat in celebrating the landmark age, largely coloured by more than three decades of working with the public service, with postings in Nigeria’s foreign missions, which include United Kingdom, Republic of Greece and Republic of Benin.

President Buhari commends Adama’s maturity and skilful handling of the political transition in 2015 at the Presidential Villa as Director of Protocol, under the Office of the State Chief of Protocol to the President (SCOP), underscoring the sleepless nights that went into preparations, managing people and resources to ensure a hitch-free handing over, and stabilization of the new government, from 2015-2017.
As Consul-General to South Africa, the President also extols the diplomat for the key role he played in safeguarding lives and assets of Nigerians, facilitating evacuation and providing an enabling environment for both Nigeria and South Africa to reconcile and continue their brotherly relationship in 2019.

President Buhari prays that the almighty God will reward the hardwork and sacrifices of the Foreign Service Officer, and grant him more years of strength and good health.

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
May 28, 2020

28/05/2020

COVID-19: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY ONLY HOPE FOR HUMANITY, PRESIDENT BUHARI DECLARES AT UN-BACKED HIGH-LEVEL MEETING

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday said global solidarity was the hope for humanity, and called on developed countries and international financial institutions to cancel the debts of ''needy countries'' especially in Africa to enable them reverse the devastations of COVID-19 to the human race.

President Buhari renewed the appeal for debt cancellation for African counties in a virtual meeting tagged ''High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond'', convened by Canada, Jamaica and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Equally, the President urged major nations to provide free additional resources through an international consensus to assist poor countries fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The Nigerian leader cautioned major nations against adopting a ''me first'' and ''every man for himself'' attitude, warning that the consequences for all of us in the 21st century can only be imagined.

His words: ''The world has changed through COVID-19 and so must the global financing architecture for development financing and the response to the current pandemic. There is an urgent need for weak and needy countries especially those of Africa, to receive a fresh reprieve.

''This is a historic plague affecting every corner of the globe. In the circumstances, the response needed must be global, unconditional, comprehensive, and rapid. Debts must be forgiven and cancelled. Free additional resources are needed urgently through an international consensus to enable poor countries work to reverse the devastations of COVID-19 to the human race.

''Rising now and standing together in true global solidarity to my mind is the only hope for humanity, the best approach to safeguarding the 2030 SDGs and the only way we can build back for more resilient economies and societies. ''

The President also used the occasion to apprise the international community on the devastating impact of the pandemic on the Nigerian economy, the health sector and efforts by his government to mitigate the crisis.

''For Nigeria, the shocks are multiple, including the sharp decline in international oil prices which has negatively impacted revenues and growth, worsened external and domestic positions, and further increased banking sector vulnerabilities, resulting in enormous human and economic toll on the country.

''We have been proactive in implementing a number of strong measures, including fiscal, monetary and structural policies, and a multi-front response to the health crisis created by COVID-19 which captures all tiers of Government as well as the private sector.

''Our objective is to revert to the government’s planned medium-term fiscal consolidation path once the crisis is over. Our strategy for macroeconomic stability is anchored on our home-grown Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), '' he said.

Furthermore, President Buhari said Nigeria had revised its 2020 budget downwards and shifted emphasis to response activities towards bridging the critical gaps in the health infrastructures to strengthen national response to COVID-19 and other diseases.

On demographics and health, the President told the meeting that with an estimated population of 200 million and a large segment of economically vulnerable population, Nigeria had a high burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

''This level of disease burden, coupled with poverty level and Nigeria’s weak system; the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly jeopardizing and reversing the gains already made by the Government and its partners including in such other areas as outbreaks of Lassa and yellow fevers and measles,’’ he said.

Nigeria recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 27th February 2020. Since then, the country has seen a steady increase in the number of cases, with 8,733 confirmed cases, out of which 2,501 have been discharged and 254 deaths reported across 35 states as at 27 May 2020.

More than 50 Heads of State and Government as well as heads of international organisations participated in the High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
May 28, 2020

28/05/2020

The First Anniversary anniversary of the Muhammadu Buhari government's second term will be marked low-keyed.

Narratives of the government's achievements over the past five years which would normally would have been showcased by ministers and the party will go digital.

The last five years have been full of historic achievements. Please go to the Presidential handles and read how the decades-long wishes of the Nigerian people are being met.

‪Thank you Nigerians for entrusting the country’s government in the hands of President Muhammadu Buhari.‬

27/05/2020

CHILDREN’S DAY SPECIAL

Here are some file pictures of President Muhammadu Buhari with Nigerian children.
Let little children come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of God!

26/05/2020

One Year Anniversary: Who is the best performing Governor in the Northeast Nigeria from 29th May, 2019 to date ?.

Arrange their names base on their performance toward harnessing various developmental projects in their respective states.

Let's encourage our leaders to do more.

Signed
Northeast Reporters.

26/05/2020

PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE ON 150 MEMOS IS FAKE NEWS

The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to media reports alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled a number of memos and appointments signed off by his former Chief of Staff. Not surprisingly, these reports have quoted unnamed sources.

There is not a grain of truth in these reports and Nigerians should please ignore the insinuations behind them.

President Buhari was duly re-elected by Nigerians in February 2019. He has not and will never cede to anyone else, that power and trust given to him by the Nigerian people.

Garba Shehu
SSPA (Media & Publicity)
May 26, 2020

22/05/2020

FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS

Next week, the Muhammadu Buhari administration would be exactly five years in office. Four full years of a first term, and one year accomplished in the second term of four years.
In five years, President Buhari has touched Nigeria in diverse ways, despite myriad of challenges; economic, security, political, social, and many more.
The fact sheet will be unfolded few days hence, but today, as build up to the anniversary season, let’s dwell on some unassailable truths that can never be swept away. As Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister said; “Truth is incontrovertible. Ignorance may deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.”
The President and his team are steadily and painstakingly retooling Nigeria. Out of sheer and deliberate ignorance, some people deride it, saying we see nothing, we hear nothing. Yes. When you have become deliberately blind, you can see nothing, even when it is thrust before your very eyes. You won’t see it. When you have become willfully deaf, when it is noised to your hearing daily, you won’t hear.
Some other people do theirs out of panic. Shall it be said that what Napoleon couldn’t do, has been done by that simple, unassuming man from Daura? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Daura of all places. That small place. Not a man from a major city. And he wants to be recorded in history as the man who turned Nigeria right side up. They resent it out of panic.
Yet some others operate out of malice. He is not of my ethnic stock. Nor of my religion, language, political party. Why must Nigeria work under him? It won’t happen. We won’t see anything, nor hear anything. In fact, he is doing nothing. The country is even worse off than he met it five years ago.
There is a quote often attributed to John Adams, a former American President, though some people claim it was not original to him. It goes thus: “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
A number of times, I have written about a private journey I took to Onitsha, in Anambra State, last December. I was on the same flight with the Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Highness Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe. When we landed at Asaba, and I had paid him royal courtesies, he asked me to give the thanks and appreciation of his people to the President on the Second Niger Bridge, currently under construction. For many years, many administrations had made unfulfilled political promises on the project.
“As you drive on the Niger Bridge, just look to your right, and you will see the new bridge coming up,” the revered monarch had said. “Please tell Mr President that we are very happy, and we thank him.”
I saw the Second Niger Bridge, and it kindled the joy kiln in my heart. But you know what? Some people pass on the 1965 Niger Bridge, see the new one in the works, and just pretend not to. Some others see it, and they are angry. Will this Daura man succeed where others have failed? But facts are stubborn things. “Truth is incontrovertible. Ignorance may deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.”
Have you seen the Owerri Interchange lately? It is the 1.6 kilometers bridge and 10.3 kilometers highway being built by Julius Berger, at Onitsha/Owerri road, Obosi junction. It will lead to the Second Nigeria Bridge.
In March, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused national emergency and halted the project, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) visited. Very impressive. Now, here’s the news:
As part of the Phase 1 of the easing of lockdown occasioned by Coronavirus in the country, work is restarting on 53 infrastructure projects in 26 states, across the country. Despite the crash in revenue due to the collapse of oil prices in the international market, 11 contractors have been mobilized back to site in 26 states. And the Owerri Interchange is one of the scenes of action.
The Second Niger Bridge is projected to be completed in the lifetime of this administration, in fact by February 2022. The man from Daura will go into records as the person that did it, with Fashola as the midwife. Facts are stubborn things.
In Phase 2 of the easing of the lockdown, you know what will happen? The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) will roll out 92 repair works across 24 states in the country. That will be different from the 53 projects in 26 states. Nigeria will be one huge construction site, at a time the economy is down, and revenue has shrunk considerably. That is the hallmark of a government out to serve the people, come rain or shine. Minister Fashola says the objective “is to get all those depending on daily living back to work, when the COVID-19 is finally contained.”
Strides in agriculture will not stop. Nigeria is on the verge of food self-sufficiency. Rice, beans, maize, millet, all grains, we import none, unlike in the past. What if President Buhari had not invested in agriculture right from 2015? How would we have survived at a time like this? Where would we run to? We run to the sea, the sea would be boiling. We run to the bush, the bush would be burning. We run to the rocks, the rocks would be cracking. Where would we have run to? Yet some people say: we can’t even see what the government is doing. Yes, willfully blind people won’t see. But facts are stubborn things.
What of railway lines criss-crossing the country? Lagos to Ibadan is ready. Abuja to Kaduna had been in operation.Ibadan to Kano is in the works.
Roads? Lagos/Ibadan Expressway is 61% completed. Abuja/Kano is bursting forth. Enugu/Port Harcourt. And many others. In fact, there is a federal road project ongoing in almost every state in the country.
Airports. New terminals at Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt. Many others under construction
Solid minerals? Contribution to Federation Account In 2015 was N700 million. In 2016, it went up to N2 billion,and N5 billion in 2017. It hasn’t stopped growing since then.
We have a Social Investment Programme that is the biggest and most ambitious in Africa. President Buhari recently directed that those on the social security register be increased from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million. Yet, all that some people can do is pick holes. They forget that there was a time in recent history that the country didn’t have a social security register at all. They won’t even let the one that has been established grow.
Corruption is being fought to a standstill. The same with insecurity in different parts of the country. External reserves are growing at a time of economic crisis. Yet some people don’t see what the government is doing. But those who see, and hear, are full of appreciation.
True, facts are stubborn things. “Truth is incontrovertible. Ignorance may deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.”

*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

More... https://www.femiadesina.com/facts-are-stubborn-things/

18/05/2020

COVID-19: PRESIDENT BUHARI URGES GOVERNORS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH PTF

Governors should work closely with the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, to engender better harmony in the daunting task of checking the pandemic, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The President spoke during an online meeting Monday with the Governors’ Forum, disclosing that the PTF had briefed him on next steps in the national response to the pandemic, “and I have directed that they work very closely with the Governors.”
President Buhari said the pandemic was “beyond technology, power, and resources,” noting that countries that had all those, were recording highest casualties round the world.
“We have to be very careful. We need to continue to educate and persuade the people to accept the reality of the situation, and do all that is necessary to stay safe,” the President said.
The meeting also discussed economic and security issues, among others, with the Governors commending the President on the “leadership and direction” he has given the country in combating COVID-19.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
May 18, 2020

10/04/2020

No disaster strikes except by permission of Allah and whoever believes in Allah. He will guide his heart and Allah is knowing of all things.

May Allah shows his mercy upon the whole world and save us from Corona virus & may His mercy prevail and heal the world before Ramadan. Amen Ya Rabbi 🤲🏾. Juma'at Mubarak!

05/04/2020

Nigeria and the Life After

By Garba Shehu

In Nigeria, my country of close to 200 million people, the COVID-19 lockdown began on March 30 in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As with nations the world over we are following the advice of a scientifically-led national action plan to halt and then defeat the spread of the virus by staying at home to save lives.

With hindsight, it is clear there is no country anywhere on earth that was as ready as could now be hoped. But fortunately, since the election of 2015 - when for the first time in history power changed hands between an incumbent president and challenger at the ballot box - our now twice democratically elected administration has spent five years rebuilding governance after decades of political corruption under an effective one party state.

When President Buhari was first elected in April of that year, Nigeria and the world was reeling at the news that 276 mostly Christian schoolgirls had been kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram. The previous administration had done next to nothing to try to find them. The then president had even delayed for weeks before acknowledging they were missing.

We soon discovered why: tens of thousands of “ghost” soldiers on the military payroll. Many of those allegedly fighting at the front simply did not exist. The previous government claimed to be waging war against terrorists - but was in truth waging financial fraud against its own people and threatening their security through the corrupt theft of salaries of non-existent soldiers.

Today, the majority of the Chibok girls are now returned to their families. Boko Haram is fractured, desperate and in retreat. Our military is rebuilt, and previous partnerships with the British and American militaries that had seen those countries place defence equipment export bans upon previous Nigerian administrations are lifted.

In government, President Buhari has waged an effective war on corruption, with some 60 per cent of the general public personally experiencing its rapid decline - in testament to the administration’s zeal. And earlier this year some USD 300 million in funds looted under a previous regime was finally returned to Nigeria from banks in the US and the UK (Jersey Islands) and all of that money is being channeled into infrastructure financing.

In December 2017, the Federal Government signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Switzerland on the return and monitoring of the $322 million Abacha loot. This money is being used to fund the Social Investment Programmes, including the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) that began in December 2016. Under the CCT scheme the President had promised to assist one million poor and most vulnerable Nigerians with a monthly stipend of N5,000 each.

These funds are now being distributed directly to individual citizens mostly in need during the coronavirus pandemic and to allow for a three month moratorium on loan repayments by farmers and small businesses granted through government schemes.

Repatriated funds can also be used to boost our health spending - which was already expanding year-on-year for the last five years - for the purchase of test equipment, ventilators, masks and protective clothing.

This would simply not have happened under previous administrations - because all Nigerians know from our personal experiences of living under them that the levels of corruption, social strife and distrust in governance they created would have made that impossible.

The fact that it is today under a President who is a Muslim, his Vice, an evangelical Christian pastor, and their cabinet equally balanced between Christians and Muslims does not go unnoticed in Nigeria.

But it is less known externally - which is why individuals who supported previous, corrupt governments seek to use the cover of the coronavirus pandemic as their opportunity to wage a fake news war against the country at this time.

They insinuate to further their false claims that a President who writes for the Church Times and Christianity Today and enjoys a personal friendship with the Archbishop of Canterbury is anti-Christian, and that the same President who call for stronger trading alliances between Commonwealth nations and signs bilateral trade and military agreements with Britain is somehow anti Britain and the West.

They insinuate that Boko Haram's terrorist attacks on Christians are somehow the government's doing; that health spending is somehow declining - when it is in fact increasing after they pilfered the system for decades; and that it is this government that created corruption - when in fact the general public themselves make it clear that it is this twice-democratically elected administration that is finally addressing this stain on our governance and society.

To a large degree, many of those Nigerian names writing to conservatives in the UK and the US are just going round making money off the back of lies.

There is a difference between opinion and fact. Everyone is entitled to express the former, The latter can, of course, be questioned: but it does not then change that it is still a fact.

We can only imagine the untruths that would today be peddled to the Nigerian people and the world beyond our borders during this coronavirus pandemic had previous administrations - or those packed with their heirs - had been in charge. We can only give thanks to the wisdom of Nigerian voters that they are not.

When this worldwide health emergency is defeated, we must look to each other to rebuild the global economy - and look to strengthen partnerships that work. Nigeria is ready to take a more forthright role in the Commonwealth and global economic system as a whole. But today we can only do so because the very thing that allows us to fight the virus at all is a better government, which for the first time in Nigeria's history is both truly representative of our country's two great religions and shorn of the limitless corruption of our predecessors.

Garba Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.

Abuja, April 5, 2020

03/04/2020

PRESIDENT BUHARI DIRECTS ARMY TO SUPPORT POLICE ACTION AGAINST BANDITS IN SOKOTO AND PLATEAU STATES FOLLOWING ATTACKS

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Nigerian Army to join the Police and flush out bandits from forests around the country, particularly in the areas that witnessed recent attacks.

The President gave the directive in response to the killing of 22 people in Sokoto State, whose community was attacked by armed bandits as well as the reported killing of 10 others in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

In a quick response, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has already got in touch with the General Officers Commanding the army formations in the affected states, directing them to reinforce the police efforts to track the bandits and bring them to justice.

President Buhari also commiserated with the governments and people of the two states, assuring Governors Aminu Tambuwal and Simon Lalong of the federal government’s support in bringing an end to the spate of attacks in the regions.

He prayed that Allah would comfort those who lost beloved family members and friends in the attacks.

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
April 3, 2020

03/04/2020

Prayer Is The Most powerful Action Against Any Trial, The Most Effective Medicine Against Any Sickness & The Most Valuable Gift That We Can Offer For Each Other. We prayed That The Almighty ALLAH Accept All Our Open & Secret Prayers. Ameen ya Rabbal Alameeen, Juma'at mubaraq.

01/04/2020

AGAIN, President Muhammadu Buhari DID NOT sack Mallam Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff. The news going round especially on WhatsApp is totally not true. A usual , disregard it please!

01/04/2020

Twenty-three new cases of have been reported in Nigeria; 9 in Lagos, 7 in the FCT, 5 in Akwa Ibom, 1 in Kaduna and 1 in Bauchi State

As at 08:00 pm 1st April there are 174 confirmed cases of reported in Nigeria. Nine have been discharged with two deaths

01/04/2020

NIGERIANS SHOULD TRUST SCIENCE, NOT FICTION

“Yesterday, the esteemed Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka made comments on the legal status and description of 14-day lockdown announced by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Professor Soyinka is not a medical professor. His qualifications are in English literature, and his prizes are for writing books and plays for theatres. He is of course entitled to his opinions – but that is exactly all they are: semantics, not science. They cannot – and should not - therefore be judged as professional expertise in this matter in any shape or form.

“Across the world – from parts of the United States and China, to countries including the United Kingdom and France, government - mandated lockdowns are in place to slow and defeat the spread of coronavirus. All have been declared, and all have been made necessary, based on medical and scientific evidence. The guidance of the Nigerian Government’s medical specialists is to advise the same.

“Professor Soyinka has also declared, doubtless based on his specialism as a playwright, that: “We are not in a war emergency’’.

Eminent scientists say otherwise:
“Dr Richard Hatchett, Head of the International Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (and former Director of the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) has said, ‘War is an appropriate analogy’.

“Professor Anthony Fauci, Director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force has said of the battle against the pandemic: ‘It’s almost like the fog of war’.

“As for the legality of the lock down, the Government of Nigeria’s primary duty in law and action is the defence of the people of Nigeria. We face a global pandemic. Nigeria is now affected. The scientific and medical guidance the world over is clear: the way to defeat the virus is to halt its spread through limitation of movement of people.

“Perhaps Wole Soyinka may write a play on the coronavirus pandemic, after this emergency is over. In the meantime, we ask the people of Nigeria to trust the words of our doctors and scientists - and not fiction writers - at this time of national crisis.’’

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
April 1, 2020

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