Shehu argued that only a new administration with strong public support could attempt such a move, specifically mentioning President Bola Tinubu in this regard.

In a statement posted on his verified Twitter account on Monday, Shehu clarified that Buhari’s administration, in its final days, could not eliminate the controversial policy due to the upcoming elections and the need for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to secure victory.

Implementing the new Petroleum Industry Act, which could have resulted in the removal of subsidies, could have jeopardized the party’s position in office.

Shehu further emphasized that while Buhari did not remove petrol subsidy, his administration eliminated other budget-draining and detrimental subsidies throughout its tenure.

He highlighted the importance of the APC addressing questions about subsidy removal, but in their absence, he felt compelled to offer an explanation.

Shehu also acknowledged the current Tinubu/Shettima administration and its successful handling of subsidy removal and currency unification decisions.

He commended their timing and skill in avoiding any crisis arising from these actions.

According to Shehu, the decision to remove subsidies, including those for the Naira and Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), was postponed and held back.

He argued that such a decision should not have been made during a period of heightened tensions in the country, as it could have exacerbated the situation.

Shehu suggested that only a new administration, backed by significant public goodwill, would be capable of attempting such a move, which he credited to the current Tinubu government.

Finally, Shehu highlighted the political reality of the Buhari administration’s final days, stating that it could not have fully pursued subsidy removal due to the impending elections. He claimed that any political party seeking re-election with a new leader would have faced similar constraints.

Polls reportedly indicated that the party would have lost the election if they had implemented the subsidy removal as outlined in the new Petroleum Industry Act.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the observation in an Arise Television News interview.

He said despite the irregularities observed in the conduct of the February 25 election, it remained the most improved in Nigeria’s history.

In a statement he signed on Monday, Shehu had argued that the Buhari regime had laid the groundwork for credible elections in the country. However, he said it is left for INEC to manage the collation of results.

It also said the entire banking sector deposits in Nigerian did not amount to half of N89tn.

“It is now evident that the consultants and petitioners’ claims of a missing N89tn from stamp duty appears false and a figment of their malicious imaginations. The same set of consultants claimed in 2016 there was N20tn to be collected. It was found to be false. The entire banking sector deposit is not even up to half of N89 trillion.

“Indeed, if the Federal Government can find N89tn Naira, it can pay off all its debt, both foreign and local currency and all state government debts and still have over N10tn left,” a statement signed on Tuesday evening by the President’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, read.

The statement was entitled, Stamp duty: facts Nigerians need to have.

In an interview with BBC Hausa last Friday, the lawmaker representing the Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa and Yankwashi Constituency of Jigawa State, at the lower chambers, alleged that the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties had accused some government agencies of sabotaging the committee’s efforts.

According to Kazaure, who said he serves as the committee’s secretary, it discovered that N89.09tn had so far been realised from deductions by banks but these hadnot made it to the FG’s coffers.

He alleged connivance by some critical operatives of the regime, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Protocol Department of the State House, preventing him from briefing the President Muhammadu Buhari on the findings.

But reacting to the claims on Tuesday, the Presidency said while there was a committee empowered by the President to look recover a sum of N20tn allegedly lost to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System, the President rescinded his approval upon realising actual plan of said committee.

It explained that this ‘anomaly’ arose because certain characters apparently formed a cartel with collaborators in the Nigerian Postal Service and were allegedly collecting and pocketing tokens on banking transactions.

Soon after, a non-government organisation posited to the regime that the Nigerian government had lost the sum of over N20tn to the Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System between 2013 and 2016 in this regard, claiming that the said sum could be recovered and paid back into the government coffers.

“The consultants asked to be paid a professional fee of 7.5 per cent and were placed under the supervision of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“Following the lack of progress in the promised recovery, the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari wrote on March 8, 2018 to the SGF conveying a presidential directive that following the lack of progress and several expressed concerns received, the activities of the consultants be discontinued.

“In the aftermath of this dismissal, the consultants sued the government. A court of competent jurisdiction subsequently ruled in favour of the government,” the Presidency noted in the statement.

It said arising from the outcome of the litigation and the controversy on the legally responsible agent for collecting this levy, the regime caused an amendment to the law and removed NIPOST from the duty of its collection.

Shehu claimed that the sacked persons returned to the drawing board to formulate one form of trick or another to intimidate the government but the vigilant teams of the administration kept them at bay.

“Lately, they returned to the government through Hon. Muhammadu Kazaure with a plan to track the so-called lost stamp duties with the erstwhile consultant as chairman and Hon. Gudaji as secretary.

“When it emerged that the petitioner and lead consultant of the committee the President had dissolved via the late Abba Kyari’s letter of March 28 had masqueraded himself and re-emerged as the chairman of the new recovery committee championed by the Hon. Gudaji, the President rescinded the approval he gave and asked that it be stopped from operating under the seal of his office,” Shehu further explained.

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this on Monday during his appearance on Channels TV.

The President spokesman noted that for kidnapping to stop and become a thing of past in the country, Nigerians must stop paying ransoms and allow the security agents to do their job.

He said, “You are mentioning all of these about kidnappers and the people that have been taken and the President even in his Sallah message mentioned an appeal he was making to fellow citizens to expose them (the criminals), tell the security agencies where they are and sometimes you also can sympathise with the family members in that highly emotive situation.

“The first priority for most of them is to get their family back and they are willing to pay, and they’ve paid and these payments, whether anybody likes it or not, will continue to fuel terrorism, we have to learn from experiences in other lands that when you pay, you are fuelling terrorism, you are fuelling the hijack and kidnapping of fellow citizens and it will go on and on until simply people call off the bluff and be prepared to allow law enforcement.”

Shehu also spoke on the recent Kuje Prison attack by suspected Boko Haram members.

He said, “I’m a Nigerian, I have family members that live in the society, I don’t come from the moon, I feel it and I have never in any way suggested that there’s no hardship in the country, I have never in any place or position indicated that there’s no criminality.”

The Presidency officials were travelling to Daura ahead of the trip of the President Muhammadu Buhari to his hometown for Sallah.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed the attack in a statement without confirming the casualty figure.

The statement titled “Gallant presidential guards repel attack on advance team ahead of President’s visit” read, “The Presidency has described as sad and unwelcome, the shooting incident near Dutsinma, Katsina State, at the convoy of cars carrying the Advance Team of security guards, protocol and media officers ahead of the President, Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to Daura for Sallah.

The attackers opened fire on the convoy from ambush positions but were repelled by the military, police and DSS personnel accompanying the convoy.

“Two persons in the convoy are receiving treatment for the minor injuries they suffered. All the other personnel, staff and vehicles made it safely to Daura.”

But the spokesman of the Katsina State Police Command, Gambo Isah, in a separate statement, confirmed that the Police Area Commander for Dutsinma, Aminu Umar, and one other were killed in the ambush.

Isah did not include in his statement that the attack was on the presidential team.

The statement read, “Today (Tuesday), July 5, 2022 at about 11.30am, a distress call was received that terrorists numbering over 300, on motorcycles, shooting sporadically with AK 47 rifles and General Purpose Machine Guns, ambushed ACP Aminu Umar, Area Commander, Dutsinma and team, while on clearance operation of recalcitrant bandits/terrorists, in Zakka Forest, Safana Local Government Area of Katsina state.

“Consequently, the Area Commander and one other gallantly lost their lives during a cross exchange of gun fire.

“The Commissioner of Police, Idrisu Dauda, on behalf of the officers and men of the command, expresses his deep sympathy to the family of the deceased and pray to almighty Allah to repose their souls in Jannatul Firdausi.”

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Thursday titled, ‘Providers of substandard fuel must be held accountable, directs President Buhari’.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had hinted that the government would look into possible compensation for Nigerians whose automobiles had been damaged by the contaminated fuel.

According to Shehu’s statement on Thursday, the President “has ordered that producers and providers of consumable products be held accountable for substandard services and or products sold by them.

“The President has also given directives to the relevant government agencies to take every step in line with the laws of the country to ensure the respect and protection of consumers against market abuses and social injustices.”

Reacting to the petroleum product shortages linked to the inadvertent supply of products of foreign origin into the Nigerian market, Buhari said the protection of consumer interests is his regime’s priority, and it is, therefore, ready to take all necessary measures to protect consumers from hazardous products, loss or injuries from the consumption of substandard goods.

The President directed that in line with the law, “service providers must make full disclosure of relevant information with respect to the consumption of their products and that dissatisfied consumers are entitled to a proper redress of their complaints.”

Alleging that “innumerable lies” are being spread about the president’s disagreement with the parliament, the presidency insisted that Buhari has no issue with federal lawmakers in the country.

Admitting that the President expressed disagreement with the alterations, the presidency however noted that the senate president, Ahmad Lawan who spoke after the budget signing said disagreements such as the ones listed by the president were normal in the executive-parliamentary relationship.

The statement released by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu read “The Presidency wishes to clear the air regarding the widely-viewed/reported episode on Friday, December 31st, at the State House during the signing of the 2022 Budget and Finance Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari; specifically on the insertion in the 2022 Appropriation Act, of 6,576 new schemes worth about N37 billion by the National Assembly. While it is true that the President expressed disagreement with these and many of the other alterations, including the “reduction in the provisions for many strategic capital projects to introduce ‘Empowerment Projects’,” innumerable lies are being spread about the President being “angry” at, had “blasted” or “lashed out” at the Parliament. This cannot be farther from the truth. While we note that there are people who are trying to create a fiasco between the two arms of government on account of the budget, we assure you that they will, in the end, be disappointed. The Executive and the 9th National Assembly have since moved away from the wild, destructive political games of the past, conducting themselves in a way that puts national interest supreme in their decisions. We doubt if there is a patriotic citizen who wants to see the return of the operating environment engendered by the 8th Senate when an elected government was held in chains, held hostage to the desperate political ambitions of a clique, and the public denied needed services including that which impinged on national security. Happily, the 9th National Assembly is more about policy than politics. Under the constitution, both arms of government are coequal and at the same time, independent and interdependent. The rule of the game is cooperation and the President, as a democrat fully accepts this. Given Mr President’s commitment to improving the lot of the Common Man, it was felt that it would not be wise to throw away the baby with the bathwater. Ongoing Capital Projects, Critical Recurrent Votes, Priority New Projects – all feature in the 2022 Budget and Mr President’s forbearance in assenting to the Budget will save these provisions from implementation delays and other challenges. President Buhari is a democrat who deeply believes in the supremacy of the Constitution, with its checks and balances across the three arms of Government. In terms of the passage of legislation like the Appropriation Act and other Money Bills, the National Assembly has equal responsibilities with the Executive. Indeed, if Mr President had declined assent to the 2022 Appropriation Bill, the National Assembly has powers to override the President’s veto if they can drum up a 2/3 majority vote.”

The attack was carried out in a market in the area between Sunday, October 17 and Monday, October 18.

President Buhari in a statement released by his media aide, Garba Shehu on Monday, October 18, stated the bandits’ ‘clock of ultimate destruction” is ticking and they will soon have nowhere to hide.

He said “The clock of your ultimate destruction is ticking, as you will no longer have a place to hide. The(se) bandits are currently under desperate pressure because of the intense and sustained air and ground operations against them in their hideouts by our security forces. The cowardly attacks on innocent people by the bandits show a rearguard action of criminals under pressure. But they will have no place to hide and our gallant security forces will not relent in the current offensive to defeat these callous enemies of humanity.”

Urging Nigerians to be patient as security agencies work to improve safety across the country, the President further averred that his administration is determined “more than ever before to protect Nigerians from murderous criminal gangs that have no respect for the sanctity of life”.

This came after the President and those who accompanied him on the 18-day trip to the United Kingdom were tested for COVID-19 after returning to the country.

Presidential aide, Garba Shehu confirmed the development, saying it is in line with NCDC guidelines for international travel.

Shehu said, “Mr President and all of those on his delegation will be isolated in line with NCDC guidelines for international travel.”

He also revealed that the President and all those who accompanied him on the trip did the mandatory PCR test on Friday, August 13, and will undergo the second test days later.

About 50 of the travellers were moving in a convoy of 5 hummer buses when they were attacked. 22 of them were killed while others sustained serious injuries. The assailants reportedly dragged the victims out of their vehicles which were trapped in gridlock and then killed many of them using machetes, daggers, knives, stones and other dangerous weapons.

According to reports, the victims are said to be Fulani mostly born and brought up in Ondo and Ekiti states who were returning home after attending the annual Zikr (prayer session) organized by Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi to mark the commencement of Muharram, the new Islamic New Year.

Confirming the attack, the spokesperson of the state police command, ASP Ubah Gabriel, in a statement released, said “22 Islamic faithful were intercepted and killed. They were travelling in a convoy of five buses and returning from the Annual Zikr prayer in Bauchi State and heading to Ikare in Ondo State. Unfortunately, 22 persons were killed and 14 injured in the attack. Upon receipt of the report, a team of police personnel, the military and other sister agencies were immediately mobilised to the scene where 21 victims were rescued and six suspects arrested”

A funeral prayer according to Islamic rites was held for the victims within the hospital premises before they were conveyed to the Dadin Kowa burial ground in Jos South for burial.

Reacting to the sad incident, the President in a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said he has ordered that the perpetrators be fished out by the security agents.

Read the statement “The Presidency condemns the attack earlier Saturday on travellers from a religious event in Bauchi, passing through Jos, the Plateau State Capital and regrets the reported deaths of at least twenty-two persons with several others injured in that ambush on their travelling party. It is widely known that Plateau State has been one of the states affected by herder-farmer clashes, which have, in a significant way, been curtailed following the intense peace-building efforts of the administration of Governor Simon Lalong. However, to be clear, this is not an agriculturalist-on-pastoralist confrontation – but rather a direct, brazen and wickedly motivated attack on members of a community exercising their rights to travel freely and to follow the faith of their choosing. With the evident preparedness of their attackers, it is clear this was a well-conceived and prearranged assault on a known target, location and religious persuasion of the travellers, not an opportunist ambush. The Presidency offers condolences to the families of the victims and continues to liaise closely with the local authorities – including security, the police, and governmental agencies. These kinds of attacks on our country’s citizens are unacceptable, heinous, and stand in complete contradiction to the teachings of the great religions of our nation. The Presidency stands steadfast with both Christians and Muslims at this time in condemnation of this latest attack and expects and insists that justice is swift – but fairly – delivered to the perpetrators. Make no mistake about it: in line with my commitment to protect all Nigerians, I have ordered our security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of this gruesome massacre of innocent travellers and bring them to justice. As the facts of the sad incident continue to unfold, the Presidency commends the ongoing efforts by the Governors of Plateau, Bauchi, and Ondo; the Sultan of Sokoto His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar III and Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi as well as a number of notable Christian and Muslim leaders as they intensify efforts to calm down the situation”