Olalekan Adetayo, state house correspondent of the PUNCH newspaper who was expelled from Aso Villa on Monday, says Bashir Abubakar, the chief security officer (CSO), told him the president could rule Nigeria for eight years.
Abubakar had summoned Adetayo on Monday over two reports – ‘Seat of power’s event centres going into extinction’ and ‘Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s poor health’ – published by the newspaper.
After questioning him, the CSO directed that his accreditation tag be withdrawn and that he should be escorted out of the villa.
Adetayo said the CSO had insisted that the stories had political motives, and that they were about the next election year.
He narrated how he had alerted Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, of the CSO’s invitation.
“Adesina advised that I honour the invitation and update him on developments,” Adetayo said.
“On getting to the CSO’s office, he was initially polite. He offered me a seat and asked how I was doing and I replied I was fine. He then first confronted me with my column, Aso Rock Lens, published on Saturday, April 22, 2017. He was angry with one of the items in the column titled ‘Seat of power’s event centers going into extinction’.
“In that piece, I highlighted some places in the Presidential Villa that hitherto had hosted high-profile events. I wrote that lately, events had not been held inside the halls. He said I was insinuating that government had collapsed in Nigeria.
“The CSO then brought out a copy of April 23, 2017, edition of SUNDAY PUNCH. He was visibly angry about the lead story titled ‘Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s poor health’. That story was about how the President had not been seen in public in the last two weeks except when he made brief appearances at the mosque inside the Presidential Villa for Juma’at services last Friday and penultimate Friday. That story included the reaction of Adesina, who said the President was recuperating and that the prayer of all was that he recovered fully soon.
“He told me that the president was free to rule the country from wherever he liked. He said the stories were meant to portray the president as incapacitated and that it had to do with the politics of 2019… He said if God had sanctioned it, Buhari would rule the country for eight years, no man could stop him.”
Adetayo said on his way out of the villa, a policeman snapped his photograph and he protested immediately.
“I caught one of them, a policeman, snapping my photograph with his telephone handset and I protested. I told him I am not a criminal and he has no right to snap me,” he said.
“He was apologetic and attempted to show me the handset to prove that he had deleted the picture but I told him I was not interested in his claim.
“I was driven in the same security van to where I parked my car and I drove out of the presidential villa from there.”
PUNCH has already demanded an apology over the incident that it described as “unwarranted, unjustified and condemnable”.
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