“Our attention has been drawn to an online story entitled ‘Tinubu Can’t
Blackmail Buhari, says Former Finance Minister’ or its variant, entitled
‘Yoruba People Contributed Nothing to Buhari’s Victory’ which are being
presented as having been adapted from a statement purportedly issued by
former Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeeen Usman,CON.
As his aides, we had initially doubted the information upon first alert,
but were eventually prompted to check online for confirmation, following
relentless apprehension from friends of Dr Usman and other well meaning
Nigerians who have been calling to express their outrage We discovered, to
our chagrin, that the malicious publication was actually posted on the
internet by a couple of shadowy online news sites.
Clearly, they had done this out of mischief as was evident in the
shameless confession of one of the sources that goes by the name
SayelbaTimes which still went ahead to publish the information, even after
admitting languidly, that “SayelbaTimes is yet to confirm the veracity of
the claim though.”
It is quite telling that both the print and electronic media as well as
the mainstream online news sources which are very conversant with Dr
Usman’s personality had deliberately ignored the information, knowing that
it couldn’t be anything else other than a contrivance of the wicked.
Anybody who has followed the exemplary career and accomplishments of this
cognate technocrat, especially his unblemished record in public service,
will attest to the fact that Dr Usman neither speaks the language of abuse
nor engages in trite talks.
We wish therefore to categorically state that Dr Usman knows nothing about
this invidious and treacherous statement that has been attributed to him
through a fake social media account.
While we urge the general public to disregard such irrational claims, we
are also inclined to warn the originators of the fake report to desist
from such actions. This is because it is pure evil, criminal, cowardly and
designed to ultimately consume the perpetrators.
It is a natural justice that no crime will go unpunished, and it is only a
matter of time before the perpetrators of this heinous fabrication will be
exposed. To ensure that this is done, our principal has put the security
agencies and his lawyers on notice, and we have no doubt that they will
diligently do their job.”
(Signed)
Mustapha Hassan Gwarzo
Special Adviser to Dr Shamsuddeen Usman