DRAMA: After Denying Northern Gov’s Meeting, Lai Mohammed Makes U-Turn (Read his New Statement)
Read the two contradicting statements from Information Minister Lai Mohammed below:
The Federal Government says the full wrath of the law will be brought to bear on the authors of subversive messages being circulated on the health of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The government said this in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
“The source/sources of the fabricated messages are already being investigated and the authors should prepare to face the consequences of their actions,’’ the minister said.
According to Mohammed, the President is hale and hearty and there is no iota of truth in the subversive messages being circulated on his health.
He noted that there was no truth in the messages on the president’s health and the purported emergency meetings of state governors in Abuja or anywhere.
The minister urged Nigerians to disregard the messages being circulated via text messages and the social media, saying the fabricated messages were being orchestrated by those who felt threatened by the emerging order.
Mohammed noted that the naysayers had also resorted to the use of ethnicity and religion as tools to divide Nigerians, over-heat the polity, and cause panic among the citizenry.
“While opposition and criticism are all part of democracy, the crafting and circulation of subversive materials and scare-mongering are not.
“The emerging trend of resorting to destabilisation and scare-mongering is not unexpected, considering this government’s clamp-down on the corrupt elements in the society.’’
The minister said the scare mongering was because government had blocked all financial leaks, enthroned probity and transparency and derailed the gravy train of the looters of public treasury.
Mohammed said government would neither stifle press freedom nor abridge the citizens’ right to express themselves freely through constructive criticism or protests.
He, however, warned that “the security agencies will neither allow any resort to violence nor a willful subversion of the state for whatever reason’’. (NAN)
Governors Meeting Not Over Buhari’s Health” – Lai Mohammed
The Federal Government has denied reports that governors are meeting in Abuja on Thursday to send emissaries to see President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated the position on Thursday in Abuja when he received a delegation of the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative.
He said, “I want to say categorically and emphatically that there is no iota of truth in this. Governors are not meeting in Abuja because there is no need for it. There is no plan to send emissary to London to see the President.
“Again, I want to say that the president is hale and hearty in London where he is observing his 10-day vacation. Let us all shun the negative reports insinuating the president illness and death.
“We implore those behind this outright falsehood to desist. It is because Nigeria exists that they can practice their profession. We implore them to stop overheating the society.’’
The minister told the delegation that his ministry is very passionate about the North-East and has put the region’s concerns and developmental agenda in the front burner of its activities.
He explained that until Nigeria took possession of the insurgency war in the region, full rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement would not take place.
According to him, the country is winning the war against terror and there is need to celebrate the military that is prosecuting the war.
“We are also aware there is bigger war to be won which is healing the wounds that have been created by the insurgency.
“The ministry is particular about ensuring that correct information about the North East is disseminated,’’ he said.
The minister said that the PCNI had a tall mandate but expressed confidence in the leader and members of the committee to deliver.
He said his ministry was ready to assist the committee in any way, particularly in information dissemination.
The leader of the delegation and Chairman PCNEI Economic sub-Committee, Mr. Yusuf Yakubu said the committee was committed to restoring stability to the North East through sustainable socio-economic activities.
In achieving this, he said the committee harmonised all intervention planning for the region into a national strategic road map tagged “The Buhari Plan’’.
Yakubu solicited partnership with the ministry in mobilisation and changing negative narratives on the Northeast region.
PCNI was inaugurated by the president under the leadership of Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd) on October 26, 2016 with three-year mandate to guide, coordinate, facilitate and support all interventions and relief activities across the North East.
BELOW ARE PHOTOS FROM THE NORTHERN GOVERNOR’S MEETING WITH COAS, SERVICE CHIEFS, NSA, OTHERS
