I Did Not Say I won’t Work with Buhari, Says Kuku
The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, has denied ever saying that he would not work with General Muhammadu Buhari, as alleged in a social media report.
The Head, Media and Communications of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, said in a statement yesterday that the social media report had insinuated through the headline that Kuku said: “I’ll leave with Jonathan rather than work with Buhari.”
Alabrah noted that it was curious that there was no quote in the body of the report to corroborate the headline.
“For purposes of clarity, the presidential aide never said or insinuated that he would not work with the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari,” Alabrah said.
According to him, what Kuku said in a statement issued by his Media Adviser, which had been taken out of context, was that “the chairman wishes to disappoint (those plotting against him) as he is not interested in continuing in that office, more so as his boss, President Goodluck Jonathan, is leaving office on May 29. As the president is returning to Otuoke in Bayelsa State, Kuku is also going back to Arogbo, his Ijaw community in Ondo State.”
Alabrah further stated that Kuku considered his several appointments, whether at the local, state or federal level as a call to national service, to which he had given his all for over a decade.
“It is therefore a statement of fact that with the end of the tenure of his appointor, President Jonathan, on May 29, Kuku had no legal basis to remain in office. This is in conformity with his letter of appointment. It is not about the individual but the office he occupies.This does not also translate to Kuku rejecting a call to national service under a new administration as being insinuated. The intention is to portray him as being confrontational and hostile towards the incoming government,” Alabrah explained.