The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Monday reportedly went berserk as he unleashed a torrent of abuse and threats on PUNCH’s State House Correspondent, John Ameh, threatening to bar members of the State House Press Corps from ‘open coverage’ of the President’s events.
Ameh and other journalists were at the Press Gallery of the Presidential Villa, Abuja when the now power-drunk Adesina, a former journalist, walked in and, without exchanging courtesies, began to scream and gesticulate aggressively at Ameh, in the full glare of his colleagues, PUNCH reported.
“What was that rubbish you people wrote on Saturday? Adesina asked, referring to a story published by the newspaper on Saturday.
“Did you say that Mr President did not approve the statement? Let me tell you, if you want to last here, you had better be careful!”
The presidential aide then reportedly walked away before our correspondent could utter a word in response.
The Saturday PUNCH story, “Tribunal: Buhari retracts, confesses he was under pressure” had quoted Buhari as telling some leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress who visited him on Friday that he was under tension while the tribunal delivered its judgment on Wednesday.
The president’s admission was contrary to an earlier statement issued by Adesina in which he claimed that the President had not experienced any anxiety over the proceedings of the election tribunal.
According to the newspaper, Mr. Adesina, had issued a statement on Sunday, attacking this newspaper and its journalists, adding that the insult-laden statement was deemed unsuitable for publication by the newspaper’s editors and, therefore, ignored.
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