{"id":89428,"date":"2021-12-02T10:55:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=89428"},"modified":"2021-12-02T10:55:13","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T09:55:13","slug":"be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"m22637\" class=\"mail-message expanded\">\n<div class=\"mail-message-header spacer\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Presidency has described as divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts the repeated ridiculous claims from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it is bringing legal action against the Federal Government.<\/div>\n<div class=\"mail-message-content collapsible zoom-normal  \">\n<div class=\"clear\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\nMalam Garba Shehu, the President\u2019s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, stated this in a statement in Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>The presidential aide was reacting to various legal actions being Instituted against the Government and\/ or President of Nigeria by SERAP, almost weekly.<\/p>\n<p>According to Shehu, little is known about SERAP, or who funds them \u2013 despite their claims of being an organisation that champions transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201dTo date, SERAP has announced on repeated occasions \u2013 each time via a well-funded media campaign \u2013 that it is suing the government or President over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to alleged corruption.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To date, SERAP has not taken their retinue of legal actions to a logical conclusion. They (officers) don\u2019t follow through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dYet these headline-grabbing publicity stunts, however baseless, succeed in painting an inaccurate picture of life and governance in Nigeria and \u2013 more seriously \u2013 in sowing division amongst the Nigerian people during a time of heightened global economic volatility and hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the media aide, Nigeria is comfortable that its record as Africa\u2019s leading democracy and largest economy speaks for itself.<\/p>\n<p>He maintained that Nigeria was amongst the top five countries in Africa for quality of life, and its ranking in the Human Development Index had steadily risen for a decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dThis success is testament to the rights, rule of law and strong, independent institutions enjoyed by all Nigerian citizens and others who live there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dIndeed, it is a fact that independent, non-governmental organisations can thrive there \u2013 especially those that seek accountability from government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dPut simply, here lies SERAP\u2019s paradox: in a country without human rights, no rule of law, limited freedom of expression, and weak democratic institutions the cases and cacophony that SERAP causes \u2013 even the organisation itself \u2013 simply would not be permitted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; It is unfortunately the case that our progressive, modern, and liberal legal system is open to manipulation by cynical actors who seek nothing but to sow division amongst Nigerians and secure publicity for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dWith the global pandemic exacerbating poverty across the continent, those who have always sought to divide Nigerians along cultural, racial and political lines for political or financial gain are more dangerous than before,\u201d\u00a0 he added.<\/p>\n<p>Shehu, therefore, called on SERAP to cease its divisive, irresponsible, and bare-faced publicity stunts and instead follow through on its latest spurious legal claim in a Nigerian court.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201dLet them challenge the government publicly, legally and transparently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd while they do so, let them reveal in full view of the nation who they are, and who is funding them.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Presidency has described as divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts the repeated ridiculous claims from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it is bringing legal action against&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Presidency has described as divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts the repeated ridiculous claims from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it is bringing legal action against&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"387\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\",\"name\":\"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg\",\"width\":660,\"height\":387},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News","og_description":"The Presidency has described as divisive, irresponsible and bare-faced publicity stunts the repeated ridiculous claims from the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) that it is bringing legal action against&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":660,"height":387,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP","datePublished":"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/"},"wordCount":473,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/","name":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-02T09:55:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/serap.jpg","width":660,"height":387},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/be-patriotic-stop-divisive-publicity-stunts-presidency-caution-serap\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Be Patriotic, Stop Divisive Publicity Stunts, Presidency Caution SERAP"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}