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Adesina Hits Back Amid Fury On His #EndSARS Role
By Ayodele Oluwafemi
Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has come under social media scrutiny after he labelled a news website evil following a report that he preempted an earlier move by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu to disband the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS.
The online newspaper, People’s Gazette, on Sunday, reported that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu would have announced the disbandment of SARS on Friday, after meeting with the president, but was stopped by Adesina.
“The announcement was initially scheduled to be made on Friday after Mr. Adamu met with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the State House, but was thwarted after presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said the administration should not surrender to Twitter warriors,” the newspaper reported.
“Mr. Adesina then proceeded to issue the highly-criticised statement that appeared to cast the president as insensitive to the #EndSARS campaign, which has gained worldwide backing over the past week,” it further deposed.
Reacting to the publication, Adesina in a statement, said the report was “outright falsehood”, noting that he never said anything during the #EndSars saga.
Adesina claimed that the brain behind the online publication has always twisted his statements and he had reported the person to his former employer, twice.
The Presidential aide said, “an online newspaper published by a so-called journalist notorious for fake stories has published that President Muhammadu Buhari was to have scrapped the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) on Friday, but was prevailed upon by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, not to do so.
“The tendentious publication claimed Adesina hinged his argument on the fact that “the administration should not surrender to Twitter warriors.”
“While the FSARS saga lasted, I did not say a word on it, whether publicly or privately. Why? It was not within my brief. It rested squarely with the Nigeria Police Force, which has its own spokesman.”
However, the report has earned Adesina harsh criticisms on the microblogging platform, Twitter, as many Nigerians argued that the Presidential aide could make such statements, based on his confrontational attitude with those with differing opinions.
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