Ganduje suspends special adviser for anti-Buhari comments

Kano State governor Umaru Ganduje has suspended his media aide for “unguarded utterances on the person of President Muhammadu Buhari on the social media platform.”

“I’ve never seen a govt with zero empathy like that of Buhari,” Salihu Tanko Yakasai, a special adviser to Ganduje on media, tweeted with his verified Twitter handle @Dawisu on Saturday.

“So many times when his people are going through difficult time and expect some sort of shoulder to reassure them that he is in charge, but he failed to do so.”

 One of the the tweets has been deleted.

Kano State commissioner for information Muhammad Garba said in a statement that said the suspension of Yakasai  took immediate effect.

He said that, although the media aide has owned up the indiscreet comment as his personal opinion, it may be difficult to differentiate between personal opinion and official stand on matters of public concern.

Yakasai posted the tweet at the height of #EndSARS protests across the country. 

The now-disbanded controversial SARS police unit was the point of global attention since last Saturday over cases of brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killing and harassment of Nigerians.

Street protests against SARS received a boost from several countries after many celebrities joined the advocacy.

Nigerian youths in thousands led protests in different parts of the country, demanding total scrapping of the controversial police unit. Many of these protests were held overnight, most especially in Lagos State – in front of the state House of Assembly.

President Buhari only reacted to the global advocacy against the misuse of power by the Nigeria Police on Thursday night.

“I am being briefed regularly on the reform efforts ongoing to end police brutality and unethical conduct, and ensure that the Police are fully accountable to the people,” Buhari said in a tweet.

The president’s promise was not relied upon as more Nigerians and the international community joined the #EndSARS protests.

Reacting, Ganduje’s aide – Yakasai said, “This I-dont-care attitude is on another level.”

“To speak to ur own ppl (sic) over issues that are bedevilling them has become something like a favour u’re doing to them,” Yakasai said in a follow-up tweet to the former.

“Over & over again, u cannot spare 5mins & address the nation to calm them down, the same people u went to the 36 states to beg for their votes, its heartbreaking.”