The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has responded to the criticism levelled by Governor Nyesome Wike against Buhari over the state pardon the president granted to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame.
Garba Shehu has through a Facebook post, dismissed the criticism, saying it lacked moral justification.
Wike had, during Saturday’s meeting with delegates of Benue State, criticised the state pardon granted, claiming that it was only a ruse to win elections in the state of the pardoned former governors.
Reacting, Shehu, in a post on Facebook, faulted Wike’s criticism, saying the Governor ought to have made it known at the meeting where the state pardon was issued, which he attended, instead of airing his views after the meeting.
“I do not see the moral justification for Governor Wike’s criticism of the decision of the government to pardon Governors Dariye and Nyame at a meeting to which he was duly invited but did not attend.
“The Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Banigo who joined the Council of State meeting virtually switched off her camera so it was difficult to determine whether she sat behind the dark screen or just walked away after first joining.
“If the Governor felt so strongly about the pardons, the right was for him or his representative to sit through the meeting and assert views. This did not do. A press release after the meeting is bolekaja politics,” Shehu said.
