President Muhammadu Buhari has said that a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu, is not plotting against him.
Buhari, in a statement last night by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, was reacting to a media report that Tinubu had been placed under security surveillance for plotting against him.
Describing the report as false, baseless and sensational, presidential aide also stressed that the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu could not be better than it was at the moment.
According to the presidential aide, the Presidency is not aware of any plots by the APC national leader against President Buhari.
He said National Security Adviser General Babagana Munguno (rtd) and Director General of the SSS Lawal Daura had dismissed the reports as acts of pure mischief, and that they were not aware of the Asiwaju being on any kind of watch.
Shehu stated: “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to a false and sensational story by a leading newspaper to the effect that a pillar of the governing party, the Action Peoples Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is ‘under security watch over alleged plot against Buhari’.
“Nigerians are hereby advised to ignore this story because it is false and baseless.
We wish to confirm without any equivocation that the Asiwaju is not of any particular interest to any arm of the security services. The relationship between him and the president cannot be better than it is at the moment.
“According to the perverted logic of the newspaper, the respected leader of the APC is into a plot against the leader of the country. The Presidency is unaware of any such plots against the president.
“I got on the phone a short while ago with General Babagana Munguno (rtd), the National Security Adviser and the Director General of the SSS, Lawal Daura who both dismissed the published reports as acts of pure mischief. They are not aware of the Asiwaju being on any kind of watch.
“It would appear that a competition is on between two or three newspaper establishments on how best to breach the excellent relationship between the pillars of our party and government. So far, they have not made a headway and there is no indication that they will succeed in the future. It suffices to say that such reports, written without fairness and balance can only take away from whatever is left of the credibility of these newspapers. The general public is hereby advised to ignore them on these reports”.
