Buhari’s Aide Not COVID-19-Positive, Says Presidency

The Presidency on Wednesday denied that any of the aides to President Muhammadu Buhari tested positive for the raging COVID -19.

It described news circulating on that line as the handiwork of persons bent on “spreading false stories to the public.”

The Presidency was reacting to an online report, which said the Senior Special Assistant, Social Affairs and Domestic Matters to Buhari, Mr Sarki Abba, had tested positive for coronavirus.

“This report is sheer fabrication and brazen effort by the online news medium to mislead the public.

“Upon the directive of doctors and scientists and supervision of Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff, all staff working for and around the President, are routinely and rigorously checked for the virus.

“The Senior Special Assistant, Social Affairs and Domestic Matters, Sarki Abba, always tested negative. 

“The general public is hereby advised to ignore such stories that are intended to mislead the people and create unnecessary anxiety about the safety of the President.

“Don’t let yourself to be manipulated by any medium that thrives on yellow journalism and specialises in peddling fake news in the desperate quest for the market and donor money”, Presidential spokesman, Mr Garba Shehu, wrote on Wednesday.

Buhari’s former Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, had died of coronavirus last April.