Femi Adesina, the special adviser on media and publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, says his principal is unaware of many promises the All Progressives Congress, APC, support groups made to Nigerians in the lead-up to the 2015 presidential election.
Mr Adesina stated this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels TV’s breakfast programme, ‘Sunrise Daily’.
According to him, the president was not privy to most of the documents passed off as the party manifesto by the support groups
He said: “What happened in 2015 was that there was a rash of documents passing off as the party’s manifesto,” he said when he was featured on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“You didn’t know which one was from the party or a support group. For instance, there was a document, ‘100 things Buhari will do in 100 days’. It was when I resumed as his media adviser that I asked him about that document and he knew nothing about it.
“I’m not strictly a party person, so I do not know if some promises are part of the manifesto. But I know that each party would have promises before being elected into power and whoever is elected to power must key into those promises.
“What I’m telling you is that as of 2015, there were various types of documents which even the party didn’t know because there were many support groups who came out with their own promises.”
The presidential aide, who also spoke about the Chibok Girls’ abduction, absolved the President of any blame for the non-rescue of all the students.
“In 2015, we knew where Nigeria was, today we know where we are… Two hundred and sixty-seven were spirited away, about 57 escaped immediately, and over 100 have been returned by the administration,” he said about the girls who were kidnapped in 2014.
“The ones that are left, I think 90-something, they are Nigerians, they have the right to be brought back.
“But then, if a government came in when the trail was already cold and you couldn’t trace where the girls were taken, you can’t then blame it solely for not bringing them back, that would not be quite right.
“Dachi girls were taken under the administration, and within the week they were recovered except maybe five including Leah Sharibu, sadly.”
