‘Obasanjo didn’t expect bad stories from media’
Former President Muhammadu Buhari left office with his personal integrity intact as nobody could say he gave him a bribe, his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said yesterday.

While insisting that Buhari is broke and does not have money, he also said the allegation that the former President does not have a certificate was a product of politics surrounding the 2015 election.

Speaking ahead of the launch of his memoir entitled: According to The President: Lessons from A Presidential Spokesman’s Experience, he said President Olusegun Obasanjo never thought that there would be any negative story against him in any media outfit when he held sway between 1999 and 2007.

On why Buhari doesn’t grant press interviews, Shehu said, “Buhari is one of the most voracious readers in Nigeria. He reads all newspapers. He asks for newspapers every morning. Buhari doesn’t speak to the media because he wasn’t a showman and wanted his work to have an impact on the people.”

Shehu stated these in Abuja while fielding questions from journalists after a briefing to announce the public presentation of his 260-page book on July 9.

“Buhari is broke. Since he left office, no journalist has called me to say ‘we’re going to press’ and want my reaction. I now sleep very well.

“The allegation over the certificate was a product of politics surrounding the 2015 election”, Shehu said.

According to him, the book documents the rough and tough moments, and provides reading material to students, practitioners and researchers on the lessons learned in many years of presidential communications.

Shehu was spokesperson of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during Obasanjo’s second tenure (2003-2007).

Shehu also explained his trials while serving Atiku during Obasanjo’s administration.

“During his second term of office, Obasanjo declared war on his Vice in a major crisis that sent threats – including the fear of death – flying around.

“At some point, the VP himself went underground, as you would read it in the book. As the VP’s spokesman, the author chronicles his experiences as a principal officer in the Obasanjo presidency (Office of the Vice President) and his subsequent expulsion; his life as a person of interest to the security agencies, a detainee in the Department of State Services (DSS) and Kuje facility, and the story of his trial in the courts spanning over two years,” Shehu added.

Interacting with reporters in Abuja, Shehu claimed that he incurred the wrath of Obasanjo after the publication of a scathing cover story against him in The News magazine written by Bayo Onanuga, presently President Bola Tinubu’s aide.

“I think Obasanjo convinced himself that there cannot be a bad story about him in any newspaper except that it is generated by someone who would have told the newspaper to take that bad news. I think that is the environment in which we operated. So he and Atiku were boxing each other below the radar at the time.”

“Ononuga was with The News at the time. Anyway, he is my friend, and I am not sure anybody would accuse me of being the one who gave him that story. But they did a nasty cover on Obasanjo. And I guessed people told Obasanjo that I was Bayo’s friend, and I influenced the story. This is what I learned. Unfortunately, the agent who did this was somebody very close to me.”