FOLASHADE KEHINDE
SENIOR Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, broke the silence on why President Muhammadu Buhari did not attend the funeral of late Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru.
He said the President did not attend because he did not want to distract attention from the purpose for the gathering, which was to mourn the deceased.
There had been debates and criticisms in Nigeria and in the diaspora, over the absence of Buhari, when the late COAS and the army officers, including three generals, were laid to rest in Abuja.
The Presidential Spokesperson, who spoke on an Arise TV programme, explained that the President did not like the idea of closing roads and security men molesting people on the road whenever he had to go out for an event.
Shehu said, “I was in Europe myself on an assignment and I have not spoken to the President on this, but let me give you just one example. The President is somebody who is so concerned about the safety and wellbeing of ordinary Nigerians on the streets.
“Do you know why he now prays his Jumaat in the State House and doesn’t go to the National Mosque? It is because he doesn’t like this idea of closing roads, security men molesting people on the road for the President to have the right of way.”
According to him, these are small things for many people but they are important for Buhari.
“So, it is a mourning situation and the President didn’t want to take away attention from that,” he noted.
Attahiru died in a military plane crash last Friday, near the Kaduna International Airport.
The military plane was conveying 11 military officers, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Ibrahim Attahiru.
