Speaker Abbas disowns aide for criticizing Buhari
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has distanced himself from an interview by one of his aides, Godfrey Gaiya, which was deemed as insulting and disparaging to former President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement on Monday by his special adviser on Media and Publicity to the speaker, Musa Kirshi, said Mr Gaiya’s comments on Mr Buhari were strictly his personal opinion.
Mr Gaiya had in the interview with a national daily last week reportedly disparaged Mr Buhari by saying the immediate past president had not lived up to expectations of Nigerians and had promoted corruption, nepotism and hardship in the country.
In the said interview, Mr Gaiya was asked what he would tell Mr Buhari if they met face to face and he replied: “I will bluntly tell him that he failed. I will tell him, “Buhari you have failed”. He deceived Nigerians into believing that he is all righteous but behind his so-called righteousness was hellish corruption.
“We have seen and we will still see the number of people that became multi-billionaires under Buhari.
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“If you don’t fight corruption or turn the other side when you see evil, allowing the evil to continue, when you are supposed to be in charge and call them to order, you have failed.
“So, Buhari failed Nigeria in many areas. We are the highest indebted nation in Africa under eight years of Buhari’s administration,” Mr Gaiya said.
The Speaker, therefore, insisted that the aide carried on with his interview without his consent.
“It has come to the attention of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas (PhD), that one of his aides granted an interview to a national daily in which he made some unsuitable comments,” the statement reads.
“For the record, the said aide, by the name Hon. Godfrey Gaiya, did not have the imprimatur of the Speaker to grant such an interview. Therefore, the comments made were those of Godfrey Gaiya and not Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas (PhD), has a Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, who serves as his spokesman. All official statements from the Speaker come from his spokesman.
“It is pertinent to mention that the Speaker has tremendous respect for and enjoys same from former President, Muhammadu Buhari, and the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmed El-rufai, and will not say or do anything that will negatively affect his good relationship with them. The public should take note,” the statement read.
