Mallam Garba Shehu, former presidential media aide, has rejected accusations that he betrayed ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar by joining President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2015.
In preparation for his upcoming memoir launch, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience,” set for July 9 public presentation, Shehu defended his career transition as circumstantial rather than treacherous.
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The former Atiku spokesperson explained that following the 2014 political merger creating the APC, media campaign resources from unsuccessful presidential aspirants, including Atiku, were pooled together for Buhari’s benefit.
“All the aspirants, including Atiku, Rochas Okorocha, Kwankwaso, and the late Sam Nda-Isaiah, contributed their media assets to the Buhari campaign. I was part of that pool,” he said. “The President had the grace to appoint me as campaign media director. That’s how I came on board.”Regarding his restraint from criticizing Atiku during his eight-year government service, Shehu emphasized the importance of loyalty and professional discretion.
“If I had attacked Atiku, how would Buhari trust me? He would assume I could do the same to him one day. I learned from history. Even during the fallout between Abiola and IBB, did you hear the presidential spokesman vilify Abiola?” he said.
The former Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) president described his forthcoming publication as extending beyond personal narrative to serve as professional guidance for journalism and public relations aspirants.
“The book ‘According to the President—Lessons From a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience’ is not a personal biography but a guidebook written to inspire students who aspire to have a career in journalism and public relations.”
“It is also an authoritative account of what President Buhari did with his eight years in office.”
“This book tries to build on what Femi Adesina and several others have done, which is to authoritatively document the achievements and some of the historic decisions of the Buhari administration in eight years. It brings President Buhari up close: how did he govern? What did he eat? And the clothes he wears for some occasions?”
Shehu characterized the work as analytical, informative, and academically oriented, featuring personal anecdotes and shared journalist experiences from his presidential spokesperson tenure.
He acknowledged that the 260-page volume could not comprehensively detail all administration accomplishments across eight years, arguing that Buhari elevated Nigeria toward self-reliance foundations.
This achievement, according to Shehu, encompasses establishing personal integrity standards and transparency benchmarks through initiatives including the Treasury Single Account, Tax Identification Number, BVN, IPPS, Whistleblower programs, NIN utilization, and various accountability enhancement mechanisms.
