Nigeria’s new leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, has quietly made his first set of appointments, assembling his media team without fanfare. He has also appointed some other key personal aides without much ado.
At the head of the media team is former President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE), Mallam Garba Shehu, who has been appointed Buhari’s chief media aide.
This indication emerged yesterday when the first set of public statements issued by President Buhari were signed by Mallam Garba Shehu in his capacity as Head of President Buhari’s Media Team.
The first of the statements disclosed that President Buhari and Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, have declared their assets, as required by the country’s Constitution; the second announced that the Buhari administration has not banned officials of past administrations, including ministers, from foreign travels; while the third conveyed President Buhari’s condemnation of Friday night’s terrorist attack on a mosque in Maiduguri, Borno State, by Boko Haram, reiterating that his administration’s resolve to degrade the Boko Haram sect is unshakeable.
News Express reports that incumbent NGE President, Mr. Femi Adesina, had been recently reported by ThisDay newspaper as having been appointed President Buhari’s Special Assistant on Media. The story was widely reproduced by in the online media but not by News Express.
Mallam Shehu ran Buhari’s presidential media campaign in his then capacity as Director, Media and Communication of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APCPCC). Upon Buhari’s victory in the March 28 presidential ballot, the veteran journalist and former newspaper editor was announced as Head of the President-elect’s Media Team, the position in which he functioned until his new appointment.
Buhari, a retired army general and one-time Head of State, made history when, as APC candidate, he became the first politician to beat an incumbent Nigerian President in an election. He was sworn-in last Friday, May 29, during a colourful ceremony attended by a massive crowd and several dignitaries, including the man he unseated, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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