Lamido Slams Garba Shehu, ‘You’re A Disaster, Misfortune, Liability’ To Buhari

Ex-Jigawa governor and 2019 presidential aspirant, Sule Lamido, has slammed presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, for being a “disaster and liability” to the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

This comes after Mallam Shehu, in a recent interview, flayed Lamido for criticising President Buhari’s anti-graft war.

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Describing Lamido’s criticism of Buhari as “a reflection of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy,” Shehu had equally said “It is only in Nigeria that a leader will divert money belonging to the public into his children’s account and then turn round to start pontificating on public morals.

“It is even worse that such a person, facing criminal prosecution, will start going round saying he wants to be President,” the presidential spokesman had said.

But reacting on Monday, Lamido said Mr. Shehu’s response to his remarks “is yet another classic example of the PR disaster and liability that he now represents for the Buhari administration.”

The former governor spoke through Umar Hadeja, the Coordinator of National Volunteers for Lamido.

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“Surely, we would care less for this misfortune of an appointee of Mr. President who is fishing and scavenging desperately for ‘stuff’ that would make him look useful in a job he clearly does not know how to do,” he said.

“His brazen and intellectually lazy import-substitution mission for issues never raised in the interview in the effort to tar Alhaji Sule Lamido with a dirty brush is at best, mischievous, unprofessional and a damning verdict on Garba.

“Where, for instance, did Garba see any reference to these institutions in the said interview? Did he at all, read the interview or in the classic case of playing the ‘Boss’, lazily rely on some subordinates who supposedly drew his attention to a publication he never sighted?

“And as if this was not shameful enough, he brazenly proceeded to blindly issue a ‘rejoinder’ to a publication he apparently knew nothing about. This is a further injury to the image, integrity and ethics of the journalism profession.

“His usual habit of ignoring facts was manifest in his attempt to defend his party rather than the government’s confused approach to implementing the agenda it promised.

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Hadeja further said Mr. Lamido would not be “deterred, distracted or cowed by the shenanigans of the presidential spokesman,” adding that the former governor will “continue to speak truth to power and call out the APC government in all its numerous failings.”

“No amount of name-calling, falsehood, character assassination or intimidation will do the trick. Not from Garba Shehu, not from anyone else.”

“The APC government must shape up or ship out, or else expect the Sule Lamidos of this country and they are in the majority now, to continue to call it out.”

Mr. Hadeja alleged “confusion and lies, cross messaging and open confrontation among various officials of government even while brazenly engaged in corrupt practices of various kinds as widely reported in the media.

“This is worse than a calamity for a developing nation like ours.”

“Garba should encourage the government he serves to investigate those cases instead of chasing shadows and silhouettes”

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“Every visible productive project of stature dotting the entire landscape was initiated and completed by him (Lamido).

“The essential Alhaji Sule Lamido is a quintessential leader who is and still loved by the people; among whom he lives to date,” the statement read.

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