By Segun Adeosun
Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has disclosed that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will not slack in its three focal points-securing the country, rebranding the economy, and fighting corruption.
Adesina gave the assurance while answering questions in a telephone interview with Channels Television, Wednesday, few hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced Buhari winner of last Saturday’s presidential election.
And now that the presidential election is over, the special adviser urged Nigerians to team and support the administration in its effort to make life abundant for the people.
The full interview:
What is the mood at the (President’s) camp?
We are giving glory to God. Congratulating one another. You needed to have seen all those who worked with the president. Actually, we were all watching the report together. Immediately he was pronounced, even though it has been expected at a certain point, we congratulated one another, and immediately, he went to the campaign office to give his victory speech.
Certain people, before now, have been asking where you had been. They didn’t hear from you for a while. Did you go on holiday or you are praying somewhere for the victory to happen?
The fact that you have not seen me or heard from me does not mean I am not on top of what is going on. And there are some other things that we do in-house.
At the moment, one of our guests says this is an opportunity for this administration to rethink some of its strategies in terms of some of their anti-corruption fight and the power situation. Is there any room for such thought having just been announced as the winner?
In a country of estimated 196 million people, there would be diverse opinion. There would be diverse comments. There would be diverse approaches and all that. But there is one that will say this is the approach. Therefore, anybody that has a contrary thought or recommendation, it doesn’t mean that it will be the concrete. It can only be a recommendation and then whatever style or approach is being used by government cannot always be the final. It can always be amended as we go along. But one thing is sure, the president has said it many times that those three focal areas-securing the country, rebranding the economy, and fighting corruption will not change.
In terms of the electoral process, should we look forward to the government signing bills into law to improve the process?
Anything that is a process cannot be static. It cannot be stagnant. It must always improve and that means going forward. Anything that will improve our electoral process will be done. The president has said it number of times that if the only thing he did for Nigeria is an improved electoral system, then, he would have been very happy. So, you can see that he is committed to electoral fortunes and system for the country. And this second term is another opportunity to bring in policies, programme or projects, or laws we need to improve our political system. I am sure the president is open to it.
In the president’s acceptance speech, he spoke about the unity of the country, not letting anybody feel left out. Is that a kind of narrative we are going to expect from the government moving forward?
Naturally, it has to be. You will recall that the president inherited a country that was badly fractured. He was working towards uniting the country, but there were some people who are hell-bent on emphasizing the things that divide us, rather than the things that can unite us. I suspect that they were doing it towards 2019 election. The election has come and gone, it is time for everybody to team up to ensure that we have cohesive, united country.
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