Posted on: 09:11 Thu, 16 Jul 2015



Claims that President Buhari made
anti-Igbo comments during an
interview on the BBC Hausa Service
are lies, according to a statement
issued by the Senior Special Assistant
on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu.
The recent accusations were made on
the pirate radio station Radio Biafra,
which was supposedly shut down by
the Nigerian government two days
ago. However, the latest reports say
that the radio station continues to
broadcast in the southern part of
Nigeria.

According to the statement Radio
Biafra’s broadcast was “completely
false, malicious, and slanderous.”

The statement added that, “the voice
being ascribed to President Buhari in
the recording repeatedly played back
by the pirate radio station is
definitely not the President’s and the
claim that the station got the
recording from a BBC interview is
totally untrue.”

According to Mr. Shehu, “The BBC
Hausa Service Editor, Mr. Mansor
Liman has distanced the BBC from the
false interview clip being ascribed by
the pirate radio station to President
Buhari.”

The full statement can be read below:
STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
CLAIM THAT PRESIDENT BUHARI
EXPRESSED ANTI-IGBO SENTIMENTS
IN BBC INTERVIEW COMPLETELY
FALSE AND MALICIOUS
The claim by a pirate radio station
that President Muhammadu Buhari
expressed anti-Igbo sentiments in a
recent interview with the BBC Hausa
Service is completely false, malicious
and slanderous.

The voice being ascribed to President
Buhari in the recording repeatedly
played back by the pirate radio
station is definitely not the President’s
and the claim that the station got the
recording from a BBC interview is
totally untrue.

No one should be deceived by the
pirate radio station’s hate propaganda
against the President.

President Buhari has not had any
interview with the BBC’s Hausa
Service since his assumption of office
as alleged by the agents of disunity
behind the pirate radio station’s
inflammatory and divisive broadcasts.
The last interview he had with the
BBC Hausa Service, lasting not more
than five minutes, was on the day he
was declared winner and given his
certificate of return as President-elect
by the Independent National Electoral
Commission.

Thankfully, the BBC Hausa Service
Editor, Mr. Mansor Liman has
distanced the BBC from the false
interview clip being ascribed by the
pirate radio station to President
Buhari.

President Buhari is the President of
all Nigerians and will continue to
treat all citizens on the basis of
fairness, equality and equity.

Nigerians should therefore ignore all
propaganda designed to sow seeds of
discord among them and promote a
separatist agenda against national
unity, solidarity and progress.

GARBA SHEHU

Senior Special Assistant to the
President,

(Media and Publicity)