Major General Muhammadu Buhari: Presidency reacts to Punch Newspaper

The presidency has released the statement below as its response
to a Punch newspaper editorial which strongly criticised President
Muhammadu Buhari’s disrespect for the rule of law.

Punch, one of Nigeria’s most widely read newspapers, in an
editorial published Wednesday highlighted some of the instances
where the Buhari administration had violated court orders including
in the treatment of an activist, Omoyele Sowore.

In the editorial titled ‘Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand,’ the
newspaper said it would henceforth refer to the president by his
last military title when he ruled Nigeria as a military
dictator.

“As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy
and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The
PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, and
digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth
prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the
80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime,
until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the
rule of law,” it wrote.

The presidency in a statement by Femi Adesina described Punch’s
stance as a ‘testimony of free speech’ under Mr Buhari.

Read Mr Adesina’s full statement below.

A newspaper says it will henceforth address President Muhammadu
Buhari by his military rank of Major General.

Nothing untoward in it. It is a rank the President attained by
dint of hard work before he retired from the Nigerian Army. And
today, constitutionally, he is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces.

All over the world, just as in our country, a large number of
retired military officers are now democrats. It does not make those
who did not pass through military service better than them.

Rather than being pejorative, addressing President Buhari by his
military rank is another testimony to free speech and freedom of
the press, which this administration (or regime, if anyone prefers:
it is a matter of semantics) has pledged to uphold and
preserve.