Those Complaining Of Hardship In Nigeria Are Very Few- Buhari's Spokesman

Femi Adesina 

The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mr. Femi Adesina has said the president Muhammadu Buhari-led administration s still enjoying majority of Nigerians support despite the untold hardship most people are complaining of and the massive loss of jobs by Nigerians. The president’s spokesman said those complaining tough times are the minority and cannot be seen to represent the entire populace of the country.

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The statement was made by Femi Adesina on Friday july 8, 2016 while appearing on a live radio phone-in programme on Raypower 100.5fm in Abuja. While speaking on the programme Mr. Adesina said those complaining of suffering and hardship under President Buhari to be patient with the government assuring that concerted effort is being made to correct all the wrongs of the past government. In his words Adesina said political appointees and officials of Buhari’s government in Aso Rock live in the midst of the people and are of course feeling the pulse of the people in the areas and environment regularly and these officials working in government can conclude that those criticizing President Buhari were in the minority.

 Mr Adesina specifically asked callers on the programme to give him the statistics of those complaining. “We are in the midst of the people and we can feel the pulse of the people,” Adesina said reffering to the government officials who live amongst the people. “I maintain that the people who are complaining are in the minority. I can tell you that the support base of this government is still enormous. He said.

You will recall that few months ago Mr. Adesina was quoted to have said those complaining of black out in the country should not blame the president but blame vandals of pipeline and facilities in the Niger delta apparently telling Nigerians to fight the vandals if they want un interrupted power. The statement was widely criticized and regarded as disappointing coming from the corridors of power who should enpathise with Nigerians who are daily suffering from the inability of the government to provide power for its citizens. Even though the people know the rot in the power sector has been on for a long time, the least the president spokesman could said was to appeal to the people to bear with the new government.

These kinds of out-of touch statements is not new to Nigerians as they are already used to them especially from the Ministers and government officials especially the Minister of Labour and productivity Dr Chris Ngige who at a press conference said those complaining of hardship in Nigeria are the opposition and their supporters and not Nigerians. This was later corroborated by the Information minister Alhaji Lai Muhammed who also made similar statement and even blamed the past administration on any the new government is faced with even when the scarcity of Tomatoes broke out some months back where he blamed the past government for the scourge of tomatoes disease which recently attacked the crop in the Northern part of Nigeria and also blamed it on Boko Haram.