The Buhari Media Support Group (BMSG) on Thursday said Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, saw her husband during her recent visit to London, contrary to insinuations in some quarters. The group stated this in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mr Austin Braimoh and Secretary, Mr Cassidy Madueke, in Abuja.
It said that the insinuation, also peddled by an online medium, was “a tissue of lies aimed at ridiculing the President, his office, wife and officials working with him“.
It described the report as mischievous, malicious and wicked and was capable of bringing the office of the president to disrepute. The group said that it was shocking that the medium descended so low to the point of “being a harbinger of fake news“. “For the avoidance of doubt, President Buhari met and spoke with the 81 released Chibok girls before embarking on the second medical mission to London. “It is evident that he spoke at the airport with officials of state before taking off; both events were televised nationwide,’’ it said. It said that it was, therefore, most uncharitable for a media outfit to claim that the president lost his memory before travelling and could not adduce any fact to its claim. The group said that the attack on the first family had got personal, adding that it unfortunate and dangerous “because the visit of the president`s wife was a family affair’’.
It wondered the sources that gave the information when it was obvious that the president`s wife met and spoke with her husband. According to the group, the president`s wife even came home with the cheering news that her husband`s health has improved and that Nigerians should keep praying for his full recovery. It said that it was unfortunate that the media organisation relied on information gathered from its “so-called sources and could not speak with the president`s image makers before publishing’’. It advised that embarking on high level fabrications of news should not be the hallmark of media organisations. It maintained that the presidency remained one as evidenced by the freehand given to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to run the country while the president was away.
“The claim that a cabal or a few officials working for Buhari is holding the presidency to ransom is far from the truth,’’ the group stressed. It urged the media to stick to the ethics of journalism in order to eschew malicious and tendentious reports. It pointed out that false reports were capable of putting the country on the edge, particularly now that it was making steady, but significant progress on all spheres of development.