*The Economist disowns publication on President Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja President Muhamamdu Buhari’s belief is that it is...
*The Economist disowns publication on President
Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
President Muhamamdu Buhari’s belief is that it is too early to be talking about 2019 elections when there are many important issues on his desk.
The President’s Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, states this on his Twitter handle, @BashirAhmaad, on Thursday.
Ahmad was reacting to a report by Reuters quoting the President as saying in a radio interview that he had yet to decide if he would re-contest or not.
The medium has since withdrawn the report.
Before the report was withdrawn, Ahmad had explained that Buhari did not grant any radio interview.
He wrote, “This report from @Reuters is not true. President @MBuhari didn’t grant any radio interview where he talked about 2019 election.
“For Mr. President, it’s too early to start talking about next year’s elections when there are so many important and pressing issues on his desk.”
Meanwhile, the Presidency on Thursday quoted a London-based magazine,The Economist, as disowning a publication which claimed that Nigerians have shown unprecedented level of patience with Buhari.
The publication is said to have been making the rounds on the social media and on some websites in the country, and beyond.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the Presidency enjoined Nigerians to be watchful and circumspect about the kind of information they are exposed to, and share, “especially in this period when purveyors of fake news abound.”
Adesina quoted a January 18 letter for the magazine’s Africa Editor, Jonathan Rosenthal, as disowning the report.
The letter read, “It has come to my attention that an article has been circulating on social media and been published on various websites that purports to have been written or published by The Economist.
“The article with the headline ‘The Unprecedented Level of Patience Shown to Buhari’ was not written nor published by The Economist. Any claims connecting it to The Economist are false.”
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