Elite fighting Buhari over oil wells – Presidency

The Presidency says some of the elite in the country consider President Muhammadu Buhari a bad man because they know they cannot approach him for oil well licences.

Addressing reporters in Abuja weekend, a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said: “So, we understand the game playing out and there’s always a price, in any case, to pay for that kind of exposure.”

Shehu also said it is not a sin for any government to have a cabal, noting that the term should not be used derogatorily.

“There is no government in this country that we have not heard that some people were accused of being a cabal in that government and it is because every administration, every president must have a secretariat.

“Every president must have people who advise him. It is not a sin. It is not an offence to have people that you take into confidence. Elsewhere, they call it ‘kitchen cabinet’, but in our own country, we are being derogatory and we term them the cabal so that it will tarnish their own good standing. A lot of them are successful people who are making extreme sacrifices to even be coming to serve government. Some of them have no need around government, but because this is a country of people, some of them are in a hurry.”

He said social media had become a problem for many families, urging stakeholders to work with the Minister of Information and Culture to provide media driven solution.

He said some “selfish” civil society groups were crying over the alleged threat to freedom of expression to attract donors from abroad who would send in the US dollars for the protection of hate speech.