“When Femi Adesina or myself speaks for the president, people should accept
that it is the president that is speaking. For this president, it is the
actions that should speak for him; he (Buhari) is not a showman, he doesn’t
have to be there.”
“People should not personalise the issue. This country has problems, it
requires the involvement of everyone, all hands must be on the deck to solve
these problems –community leaders have a role, senators have a role, everyone
has a role.”
“We need to be appreciative of the enormous risks that our security people
are facing, they are making it possible for you and I to sleep well because
they are exposing themselves on the frontline.
“So, for everybody to say there is no political will, is anybody
complaining? Is the IG of police saying he is unable to do his job because he
doesn’t have political support? This president allows you to do your job,”
…
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba
Shehu
“I am not in a tussle of leadership with Governor Makinde, but he can’t come
out and say he is my leader, he is not my leader, No he is not. The fact that
my son is the governor and I had to get up when he comes to a function does not
mean he is my leader.
“The gentleman is a governor and I must respect his office. Governor Makinde
by all standard is the only governor in the Southwest, all South South leaders
are PDP governors. Who is the leader of the governors? Because he is the only
one we have, I used to be like that and I never said to anyone, I am the leader
of the west”
…
Ayodele Fayose, Fmr. Governor of Ekiti State
“To be honest, the role of the armed forces and other security agencies have
really been very encouraging and we implore Nigerians to encourage us to do
more.
“But if you are only waiting for success, nobody can predict anything,
especially with the kind of war we are fighting. The new concept of everything
is not so conventional as to predict that you can beat the enemy at your own
pace.
“The only way a conventional warfare is fought is to know the strength of
your enemy, his weaknesses and compare with what you have. Then, you can
certainly predict whether or not you can win the war.
“But the most important thing is the ability of the people that you are
fighting for to appreciate the effort the military is putting in and encourage
them to do better.
“Today, everybody seems to rely on success, without corresponding interest
to assist the military. However, I think Nigerians are getting it better. They
know that the military cannot do it alone and they are doing all their best to
see that they assist us in whatever manner — intellectually, materially and
anything that will make us to get out of this thing, especially, in the area of
intelligence.
“We want to know what these people are up to; we want to know what they are
doing so that we can predict where to hit them hard. “I am the minister of
defence and the defence of this country is entirely my responsibility. We have
the mandate to ensure that the lives and properties of people are protected.
“I will also refer you to the promise Mr President made to Nigerians in
2015, that is, on security, economy and corruption. If in the process, the
policy has had some people who think that they should be given independence to
do what they want to do in order to bring this country down, so be it.
“We cannot sit and then you shoot at somebody and we allow you to go because
somebody thinks that you are one that can kill and go away. Please, give us
time; we are in a state where we want everybody to look up and see what he can
do for this country, not what the country can do for you,”
…MINISTER
of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi (retd)
