Stop joking about interim govt, Presidency tells El-Rufai, Ganduje, other ‘propagandists’

Presidency says there is no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is working towards an interim government or the truncation of democracy, saying elections will hold as scheduled.

Governors Nasir El-Rufai and Abdullahi Ganduje had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of planning to stage an interim government.

But a statement by Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman on Friday in Abuja, said the president would never be a party to the truncation of democracy that he had helped to keep alive not only here at home, in West Africa but throughout the continent.

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According to him, talk of interim government and truncation of democracy is way off the mark and those peddling it stand to gain nothing- ”nothing at all -but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.”

The statement read in part: ”Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda Chief of Adolf Hitler said ‘‘Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth’’. This was in the 1930s, before the internet was birthed.

”Let us clearly, specifically and emphatically state that there is absolutely no truth to the claim that President Muhammadu Buhari is working towards an interim government or even worse, the truncation of democracy- democracy that he has helped to keep alive not only here at home, in West Africa but throughout the continent.

”The talk of interim government and truncation of democracy is way off the mark. Those who peddle it stand to gain nothing- nothing at all -but the creation of panic and the incitement of the public against the federal government.

”It is another dangerous dimension by people who are afraid that they may lose their elections.

”Everybody is aware that there is a lot of pressure on everyone-all of us- the party, its elected officials, its candidates and law enforcement agencies following the way the currency swap has gone but the way to go is not to panic.”

The presidential aide acknowledged that the country was facing socio-economic challenges occasioned by the ongoing currency swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

He, however, maintained that the solution to the problem was not sending the citizens into confusion as the president had since opened several avenues for consultation with leaders and groups across the country.

”There is indeed a problem and nobody will pretend that it doesn’t exist.

”It is precisely because the President is concerned with this problem that he opened several avenues for consultation with leaders and groups across the country, culminating in his broadcast to the nation on Thursday morning.

”In line with the speech, his clear and unequivocal directive is that the problem of cash supply must be addressed without delay.

”While this is being done, there is no need to panic. We need to work together as leaders; as a people and as one nation. When panic hits, people go into overdrive. Shouting helps no one because no one can listen.

”The solution to the problem is not in sending Nigerians into confusion.”