Nigerians are now wondering why its President Muhamadu Buhari, is not addressing its citizens, with the outbreak of coronavirus now in the country, and has claimed thousands of lives in other parts of the world.
This is following the rumour that president Buhari and his chief of staff Abba Kyari were secretly flown out of the country for treatment after seeing the outcome of their Covid-19 test which was later debunked by Bashir Ahmad.
Well, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina has defended the President for not addressing Nigerians on the coronavirus (COVID-19) on a daily basis and has a right to his style of leadership.
Adesina stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
Asked why the President did not brief Nigerians as it was done in other countries, Adesina said, “It’s a matter of style”.
“The style that A adopts may not be the one that B adopts, and there is no style that you can call ‘this style’ for everybody. So, everybody is at liberty to adopt a style that suits him.”
Adesina, however, noted that the President had put certain measures in place to ensure information was passed through the right channels.
He listed these to include the setting up of a Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus, as well as briefings from the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), among other stakeholders in the nation’s health sector.
With these measures being operational, the presidential aide stressed that there was no need for President Buhari to give a regular briefing, as long as there was no communication breach.
He said, “The style our President has adopted is to set up a Presidential Task Force headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), which briefs regularly.
“You have the Minister of Health who briefs, you have the Minister of State for Health who briefs, you have the NCDC who briefs; so you have that chain and there is no lack of information.”