It would have been difficult to believe Buhari was not aware he was under threat had it not come from El-Rufai – Afenifere

The Afenifere socio-political organization has reacted to a recent statement by Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai that President Muhammadu Buhari was not aware of the threat to kidnap him. The group condemned the threat alongside every other terrorist attack which the current administration has continued to sugar coat.

Jare Ajayi, the spokesman of Afenifere, said the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has affirmed that Buhari was unaware of the reality in the country.

He wondered what the role of the NSA was for the President not to know that he was under the radar of kidnappers

The statement reads in Part: “It would be recalled that the Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed, described the threat by terrorists to kidnap President Buhari and Governor Rufai as laughable, while his counterpart in the Ministry of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said that the Nigerian economy is doing very well, far better than under the previous administrations.

“What further drove home the fact that President Buhari is not always aware of the reality of the country’s situation was the disclosure by Governor El Rufai of Kaduna State that President Muhammadu Buhari was not aware that terrorists threatened to kidnap both the President and himself until he (Rufai and Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State) told him.

“In any case, we in Afenifere do not take the threats by the kidnappers, bandits and terrorists lightly. What with another deadly attack that happened in Owo, Ondo State, on Wednesday, July 27th, barely seven weeks after the gruesome attack on St Francis Catholic Church in the same town. We in Afenifere, in strong terms, condemn this new attack as we did the previous time. It is seen as a provocation that can no longer be accepted.

“The impression had always been that the Chief Executive Officers at the national and State levels get daily briefings on the security situations in their respective areas.

“Had it not come from Governor El-Rufai, it would have been very difficult to believe that President Buhari was not aware that he was under the radar of would-be kidnappers.

“Yet those around the President were very much aware of this fact. Why didn’t they bring it to his attention? Where is the position, indeed the role, of the National Security Adviser in all these?

“We are asking these questions because, among others, funding cannot be an excuse.”