Gov. Nasir El-rufai of kaduna State has insisted that being the first to inform President Muhammadu Buhari of threats to kdiohim does not necessarily mean security and media aides in the presidency are not doing their jobs,
The Kaduna Governor, in a statement, said he had always advocated for a robust action against terrorists that are killing Nigerians, including bombardments of their hideouts.
His statement was released by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communications.
Clarifying how the message about the Governor being the first to brief the President came to happen, Adekeye stated that El-Rufai had hosted a live media programme in Hausa on Wednesday where he responded to questions related to the deteriorating security situation of the country.
His response included a reminder that he had, for at least five years, advocated for robust action against the terrorists.
The governor disclosed that he briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the gravity of the security situation and informed him that the terrorists had made threats to abduct the President and himself.
The statement said, as a digitally-active governor with a significant presence in the social media, he was the first to draw the attention of Mr. President to the viral video making the rounds that day.
“It is incumbent on him to share information with the President, without prejudice to any security or media reports that the President may receive from any other sources. The President had not seen the viral video at the point in time.
He said the storylines by a section of the media that this amounted to a failure by the security agencies to brief Mr. President was not what the governor expressly said in the Hausa language interview.
“At all times, it is important that the media exercises restraint and ensures contextual accuracy in reporting, and avoids issues that may arise from or be lost in translation.”
According to him, media must not by acts of commission or omission, glorify the terrorists or demonise officials charged with the duty to contain and destroy them.
” Nigeria’s security challenges should neither be politicised nor deployed to mislead our people,” he said.
NPO Reports that there have been outrage over the development with many Nigerians accusing the president of being too far away from the realities of the country.
The development has been at the centre of media discussions in the last 48 hours.