Borno State was rumoured to have experienced another bomb attack during the Sallah celebration, with about 80 persons allegedly killed, but the Presidency refuted the claims by one Akin Oshuntokun, saying there was nothing of such.
The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina who refuted the claims on Borno as allegedly reported by Akin Oshuntokun who is a public affairs commentator, said the Eid-el-Kabir was peaceful all over the country and also in Borno and the entire North East.
Akin Oshuntokun two days ago had claimed that a devastating bomb blast killed over 80 people in Borno State, North-East Nigeria.
Mr. Femi Adesina said the Public Affairs analyst has always worked against the successes recorded by the Buhari administration. His statement refuting the bomb blast in Borno said:
“On Tuesday, August 21, 2018, Akin Oshuntokun, a chieftain of the stillborn Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM), appeared on Politics Today programme of Channels Television, and made the false claim that a bomb blast had gone off earlier in the day, killing about 88 people in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Oshuntokun, a newspaper columnist and public affairs commentator, has never hidden his antipathy towards the Muhammadu Buhari administration, but to go on national television and tell lies of the most heinous kind betrays a mind taken completely over by ill wishes against his own country.
“Sallah Day had passed quietly and peacefully, without even a firecracker going off, let alone bomb blast. That was contrary to what used to happen before the advent of the Buhari administration when such festivals were turned to an orgy of killings in many parts of the country by insurgents. Apparently, enemies of peace and progress had expected a return to the infamous past, thus Oshuntokun appeared on television with his bag of lies.
When those on the programme remonstrated with him that they were not aware of any bomb blast on that day, he stood his ground, all in a futile bid to puncture the successes recorded by the government in the area of security.”
The Presidential spokesman emphasized that the country did not witness any bomb blast throughout the Sallah celebrations.
“Till the Sallah holidays ended, no bomb blast was recorded in any part of the country, to the shame and discomfiture of the naysayers. One wonders: if there were bomb blasts, and more than 80 people truly died, what would be the gain of anybody, except those who have become blinded by malediction and morbid wishes? Is carnage something now to glory about? Is the struggle for power now so ghoulish that some people have lost their humanity over it?
“Oshuntokun and his ilk should realize that this is the only country we have, and we can’t swallow poison and expect it to kill the next person. What we sow is what we reap. Happily, however, those for a peaceful, united and cohesive Nigeria are more than those against it. That is why those with baleful, hateful thoughts would never win,” he said.
Adesina noted that the tripod goals of securing the country, fighting corruption, and reviving the economy are central to the Buhari administration and Government is making strides in the three areas.
NAN