Former Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has extended his congratulations to President Bola Tinubu on his election as the new Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
This was relayed in an official statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesman for former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In response to a story published by a national daily, Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesperson for former President Muhammadu Buhari, clarified that the reports claiming the former President has fled the country and is in exile are entirely false.
Mallam Garba Shehu discredited the newspaper report claiming Buhari’s exile subsequent to the handover to President Tinubu, stressing that it lacked veracity. He urged media organizations to exercise professionalism and verify information before disseminating it.
Shehu confirmed that Buhari is in Daura, Katsina state, where he is with his family.
According to him, ‘For misleading the otherwise credible newspaper to falsely report on their front page that former President Muhammadu Buhari has ‘fled’ and on ‘exile’ when he is currently at home with family in Daura, Katsina State, BusinessDay newspaper should sack their reporter who didn’t do the job of checking his facts.’
‘BusinessDay should think 10 times before running any information from the particular reporter and verify it before believing him. Every platform has tools to verify any information and we don’t expect anything less from BusinessDay.’
‘If they had browsed through different sources, they will have seen reports of the former President having come back home and enjoying the company of his family.’
‘A single fake news in a newspaper has the capability to destroy a reputation built on years of hard work.’
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Shehu in the statement said: ‘Former President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his emergence as the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.’
The former Nigerian leader said ‘West Africans have entrusted our new leader with an enormous responsibility, and it will be our task as citizens to support him to not let them down.’
‘I pray the Almighty will make his tenure as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government see to the restoration of ECOWAS as the bastion of democracy, good governance and a leader in fighting terrorism and climate change on the continent.
President Tinubu’s election as the Chairman of ECOWAS took place during the 63rd Ordinary Session of the regional bloc held in the capital of Guinea-Bissau, Bissau.
