Presidency not bothered by opinion of few Nigerians – Adesina

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is not borthered by the opinions of a few Nigerians.

The presidential spokesman, who stated this on Wednesday when he appeared on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television, also contended that Nigeria cannot be bothered about reports from the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union concerning the nation’s human rights abuses.

“We are not answerable to the US, the UK or the EU. We are Nigeria, a sovereign country. Those countries and entities have issues of their own. Let them deal with their issues. Let Nigeria also deal with her internal issues. We are not answerable to them”, Adesina said.

Speaking on the criticism of the president by Professor Wole Soyinka, Adesina said he was free to express his opinion.

“We respect Prof. Soyinka. You don’t have too many of them in the country or even on the continent. He is an avatar and he is well respected but his opinion will remain his opinion. It will be considered and if there are things to act on, we will act on them,” he said, adding that the Presidency would not take the opinion of a few Nigerians as that of the majority.

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“Genuine issues will be looked into. We have had instances in which the government had to reverse itself because there were concerns raised. It shows that the government is responsive but you cannot listen to a babble of voices. It will distract you from what you are doing,” Adesina added.

When reminded of the fact that he was also a journalist before taking up the job to be the President’s spokesman, Adesina said he would remain true to his calling.

“I am still in the media. It is just that the roles are a bit reversed… when I am done with government by the grace of God, I will still return to the media,” he said.

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