– Buhari’s SSA, Garba Shehu comes under fire over comment on Borno farmers killing.
– Shehu took to Twitter to clarify his statement about the murdered farmers not cleared by military to return to farm
– The President’s media adviser says his statement was an honest response to the question he was asked.
The Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu took to micoblogging platforms Twitter on Monday to clarify his statement about the 43 farmers gruesomely murdered by members of the Boko Haram sect in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Saturday.
In an interview he granted to BBC Hausa service, Mr Shehu claimed that the farmers had no military clearance to resume farming within the area, hence they were exposed to attack from the terrorist.
The comment from the presidential adviser sparked backlash from Nigerians who expressed disaffection over his statement, with most calling it ”unfortunate” and ”insensitive”
The former journalist later tweeted, absorbing himself of any blame while making it clear that his statement was only an honest reply to the question asked as to whether the security agencies had certified the area safe to live and work.
Read the tweet below.
“Today, I found myself leading the trends in the social media for the wrong reasons,” he wrote.
“The State of Borno is essentially a military zone up till now that we are talking and much of what people do; much of where they go are governed by the exigencies of security.
“Routinely, traders, administration officials and even UN agencies get the green light to go to many of the areas to avoid trouble.
“Information from security agencies says that the Zabarmari marshlands are infested with land mines and movements in around those areas subject to military oversight.
“No one is delighted with the massacre in Zabarmari and there is nothing anybody will gain by playing blame games.
“The question I tried to answer on BBC was: did the security sign off on the area as being free of mines and terrorists? The honest answer is, no
Meanwhile, we earlier reported that Nigeria’s national grid collapsed on Sunday, thereby plunging the country into darkness.
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