Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has defended his former principal’s leadership style, declaring that contrary to public perception, Buhari may have been the most aware and well-informed president Nigeria has ever had.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Shehu dismissed claims that Buhari was disconnected from national issues while in office. He described the former president as a man who deliberately allowed his work to speak for itself rather than chase media attention or public applause.
“President Buhari didn’t just want to cut ribbons and take pictures. He wasn’t a showman. He wanted his work to speak for him,” Shehu said. “This thing about Buhari being unaware, it is totally, totally misplaced. If you permit me, I would say that he perhaps would pass as the most aware president Nigeria has ever had.”
He shared anecdotes from his time in Buhari’s inner circle, recalling how, despite their efforts to brief him with newspaper clippings and media reports each morning, Buhari would often be ahead of them, already having consumed the content himself.
“When we started with him, we would go to Buhari’s house for breakfast and then tell him that this is what the radio stations have said, this is what we picked on the talk shows, and this is what the newspapers are saying. Believe me, by the time you got to him, he would have read ahead of you.
“The fastest way they could get to the president at that time with a problem, was not to go to the civil service and write a memo and file. Go to the press. Talk to the television.”
Shehu acknowledged that Buhari’s leadership was sometimes criticised as slow, but said this was due to his transformation from a former military ruler to a committed democrat who chose to follow due process.
He argued that many Nigerians are impatient, wanting quick fixes, but Buhari chose to abide by democratic norms.
“Was he slow? Yeah, he himself had joked about all of that. And he kept on saying, when he came in, he was brash as military head of state, he just did things on impulse, and he ordered people to be locked up. But this time, as a converted democrat, he needed to follow the due processes that the law says he should follow. What is wrong with that? Nigerians are very impatient. We want to rush through things. But he says, ‘no. The democratic process sets the rules. And I must not go against them.’”
Asked whether Buhari now supports the removal of President Bola Tinubu or intends to oppose the APC in the 2027 elections, Shehu firmly dismissed the idea.
“No, not at all. President Buhari’s position was and still is that he’s an APC person. APC did him the big favour of his life. Made him president for two terms. He is not going to betray that party. President Tinubu is a successor from the same political party.
“President Buhari ran for office three times and didn’t win until they came together with Tinubu and all the others and they won. Is it President Buhari who will quit?”
Melissa Enoch
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