Buhari didn’t lose grip on national issues while in office – Garba Shehu

Former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu stated that Buhari remained connected and well-informed about events in Nigeria throughout his time in office.

In his book “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience,” launched on Tuesday in Abuja, Garba Shehu revealed that he invented the Villa rat invasion story to shift public focus from worries over President Buhari’s health and ability to lead.

During his administration from 2014 to 2023, President Buhari once responded to a security-related question in a media interview by saying, “I am not aware.”

This statement quickly became a defining phrase associated with him, often used by opposition figures and critics to highlight perceived gaps in his leadership.

However, in Chapter 6 of his book titled “The Muhammadu Buhari Persona” (page 108), Shehu noted that the former President regularly stayed informed by reading newspapers, listening to the radio, and watching television news channels every day.

According to Shehu in the book, “Buhari is a publicly aware person. In office, he took more than a passing interest in knowing what was happening in the country and around the globe and what was being written about his government, even if it was a paragraph in a newspaper.

That was why he was supplied a dozen or more newspapers in the morning to start the day, even before getting to the office.

The delivery of his newspapers early in the day was a mandatory exercise, at home in Abuja, and wherever he happened to be. A driver went on daily trips to Kano from Daura, a journey of about two hours with light traffic, to pick up newspapers for him. (Even now, out of office, that arrangement continues).

“He also loved listening to the radio and watching television. I had noticed his attention switching between the papers and the TV.

“Even then, he had a disdain for public exposure, or, perhaps, the camera-still and motion.”