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Presidency Angry With Foreign Affairs Magazine For Joining In “Nigeria Is Failing” Song

Shehu Garba

The Presidency is not comfortable with Foreign Affairs magazine on its publication recently that portrayed it as having blindly joined those who see nothing good in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, adjudging Nigeria as a failed nation.

In a letter to the magazine today, Jun 3, Senior special assistant to President Buhari on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said that while the presidency had come to expect negative comments from partisan blogs and politically motivated lobbies, “it is still a surprise, and a disappointment, to see them joined by Foreign Affairs.”

The letter read in full:

Dear Sir,

The latest article on Nigeria in Foreign Affairs titled ‘The Giant of Africa is Failing’ is unfair both to a magazine with such an esteemed pedigree and to its readers.

Ambassador Campbell has been predicting the collapse of Nigeria for several years. He is of course entitled to his opinions, even where events consistently prove him wrong.

But facts should not be bent to support distorted opinions.

Let me give you one example.

The authors write:

‘At an April meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Buhari reportedly requested that the headquarters of the U.S. Africa Command be moved from Germany to Nigeria so that it would be closer to the fight against jihadi groups in the country’s north.’

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President Buhari did not request that AFRICOM move to Nigeria. The transcript of the call with Secretary Blinken is available on the State Department’s own website.

It’s not just a question of the invented addition of ‘to Nigeria’ with regard to AFRICOM. It sums up a piece that attempts – subtly but revealingly – to shift facts to suit an argument.

Nigeria faces multiple challenges, not least of which is the dissemination of fake news and prejudiced opinion.

This is something we have come to expect from partisan blogs and politically motivated lobbies. It is still a surprise, and a disappointment, to see them joined by Foreign Affairs.

Yours sincerely,

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)

03 June, 2021.

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