Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has shared a revealing account of his abrupt dismissal from government during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, while he was serving as spokesperson to then Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking during an interview with Channels TV, Shehu recounted how the relationship between President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku deteriorated after the 2003 election victory, creating an atmosphere of suspicion within the presidency.
“When they won, then the war started,” Shehu said. “And I was recruited into the presidency in the second term, working in the office of the vice president.”
He explained that it became a widely held belief within the Villa that any media criticism of the president must have been sponsored internally.
“We made a conclusion that the former president, with all due respect to Chief Obasanjo, never believed that he could be criticized by the media without the instigation of someone,” Shehu said. “So it was believed that it was the office of the vice president that was pumping up the negative press for the president.”
According to him, this suspicion made him an immediate target, and just six months into the job, he was removed.
He specifically recalled a damaging story published in The News magazine, which created further tensions. “I keep coming to my friend who had a big story on inside happenings within the Villa — in his magazine, The News, the weekly magazine. I could not have been the source. And so the conspiracy theorists convinced — I believe, that’s what I understood — convinced the president that Garba was behind this story.”
He stated that the dismissal came without formal notice. After returning from an official trip to Jos, he was informed by a journalist that his resignation was about to be announced on national television.
“As I settled in at home in the evening, they called me from NTA. Someone said, ‘We’re going to announce your resignation tonight.’ I said, ‘Have we resigned?'” he recalled. “He said, ‘We have a statement from the Villa saying you have resigned.’ I said, ‘Well, so be it. What can I do?
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