President Buhari's media team don't have access to him - Report

 President Muhammadu Buhari’s media team has been under pressure lately

- Many say they haven’t handled the president’s health issues well

- Others say they are not to blame as they have limited information at their disposal

A report by Ynaija has focused on President Muhammadu Buhari’s media handlers and how they have handled the president’s health situation so far.

President Buhari's spokesman, Femi Adesina has not had it easy in recent times

While some have continually blamed the president’s media team, insiders believe that the president’s media team cannot be blamed, especially when they have not seen the president themselves and have to rely on the information fed to them by those close to the president.

An insider working for the APC quoted in the report said: “Even when a little insincerity would have made their job easier and I believe they should be commended for staying truthful.

“Femi Adesina could have claimed he spoke to the president but he was truthful about it, sincerity is in line with ethics and I think he did the right thing by stating the truth.

“They’ve also done well to nip death rumours in the bud with pictures from the visit by the National Assembly leadership, and the president was thoughtful enough to hand over to his vice, who’s performing excellently, in order to avoid another lacuna. So for me, I’d say it’s been okay so far”

Another APC insider quoted said: “As an Image maker myself, you can only practice your trade to the extent your principal want it practiced.

“In the case of Femi and his minions, they presently don’t have access to the president. It’s whatever instruction those around Mr President pass to them that they carry out.

“I recently watched an Interview on TV where Adesina couldn’t give a precise answer on when last he spoke with Mr President.

“Interestingly, we have a President who lacks any iota for respect for our local media. So what more can we expect from his team of media managers?’’

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Another insider said: “But why would at least one of his media aides not have access to him given the sensitivity of their job, they are his image maker, and they cannot be giving information they were fed. But again this is one of the usual eccentricities that characterizes Nigeria.

“The Buhari media team cannot be blamed as they can only work on whatever information is available to them.”

Another insider also working for the APC said that he does not think the president has a media team.

His words: “I don’t think the president has a media team, in the absence of a team, there’s nothing to say about how a non-existent team handled the president’s absence.”

He continued: “Buhari’s media team has done poorly in handling his absence, refusing to say what exactly is wrong with him, and with all sorts of contradicting statements from them and other government officials. They are fanning the embers of rumors.”

Afenifere chieftain and elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo recently said the presidency is not sincere about the true state of President Buhari’s health, adding that those around the president were taking Nigerians for fools.

Similarly, Former President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr Dozie Ikedife has expressed his displeasure over how the presidency is handling the president’s health situation.

President Buhari has been in London since January 19. The presidency had first announced that he was there for a 10-day leave. But he has since extended the leave on medical grounds.

The position of the green chamber was made known by its spokesman, Honourable Abdulrazaq Namdas on Wednesday, February 22.

The National Assembly had on February 9, 2010 invoked the ‘doctrine of necessity’ to empower then vice president, Goodluck Jonathan to act as president following the illness of late President Umaru Yar’Adua.