Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, says Nigerians have no right to criticize President Muhammadu Buhari to do their wish because they voted him into office.
Mr Adesina stated this in an article he published on his website Thursday evening and reproduced across his social media pages.
He was also reacting to critics who described him as being rude and arrogant when he recently defended his principal while featuring on a radio programme.
The presidential spokesman said some Nigerians who insult him and the president will not condone such if reversed back to them. He said some were still demanding that the president should address Nigerians despite doing so thrice.
“For about five years, some people have made it a pastime to talk about President Muhammadu Buhari anyhow. The man just ignores them, and continues to work calmly for the country,” Mr Adesina wrote.
“Last week, I chose to give out some light blows. Very light ones. That was when I realized that those who had been dealing out the blows for years have nothing but glass jaws.
“Now, this narrative of ‘he must talk to us’ is a common one in the country. I’d responded to it more times than I could remember. But what made it a bit irksome last week was the fact that the President had just made three major national broadcasts over the previous four weeks.
“I explained that it was not the President’s style to chirrup like a cockatoo. He is a man of few words, who preferred action to words,” he added.
Adesina used Former President Olusegun Obasanjo to set an example as one who will clap back at his critics when criticized, saying his principal will never follow such part.
”You know what? If it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo that had come under the ‘you must talk to us’ barrage like that, and on live television, he would have first cleared his throat noisily, adjusted himself in his seat, and then bellowed:
“And who are you, that I must talk to you? I say who the hell are you? Who is your father? Who is your father’s father, that you are commanding me to talk to you? Were you born when we fought a Civil War to keep this country together?
“Where was your father when I received the instrument of surrender from the Biafra Forces? Don’t come here and tell me nonsense. Talk to us, my foot!
“But President Buhari would not upbraid anyone like that. He rather keeps his peace. And some people have now taken liberty for license, till they begin to sound like broken records.
“The fact that you have voted a man into office is not carte blanche for you to lead the man around by the nose. A leader worth his salt would not even submit himself to such cavalier treatment. Definitely not President Buhari. I made that point clear on the program.”
A pro-democracy group, Concerned Nigerians, had charged the president to come out of hiding and show leadership.
It said the attitude of the president addressing Nigerians once every two weeks during the pandemic period is unacceptable.
