Presidency blasts UK Telegraph for accusing Buhari of fighting opponents with foreign aid

 

The presidency has replied a staff writer of The Telegraph, United Kingdom, Mr. Con Coughlin over his recent reports where he claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was fighting his political opponents with foreign financial aids meant to fight insurgency in Nigeria.

The presidency in a reaction through the Senior Special Assistant to president Buhari on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu stated that “the piece is not only full of factual inaccuracies”.
He regretted that the writer did not call the attention of Nigeria to confirm his story before going to press

The statement reads in full.
“Our attention has been drawn to a piece published on April 12, 2016, in The Telegraph (London) paper, by one Con Coughlin (identified as ‘Defence Editor’), and titled, ‘Nigeria using UK aid to persecute president’s political foes rather to fight Boko Haram.’
“The piece is not only full of factual inaccuracies, it also betrays a shocking ignorance of Nigeria and the country’s ongoing war against terrorism.
“Mr Coughlin’s editorial tactic is to quote unnamed “senior officials” and “Western diplomats” and “Western officials” and “political opponents” making fact-free and unfounded statements. It also appears that he sought out only those opinions which suited and reinforced his disgracefully false headline. Nowhere in the piece is there anything that suggests he attempted to contact the Nigerian government for its own side of the story.