Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, says President Muhammadu Buhari has attained greater acceptance among Nigerians even more than some fathers of the federation.
Adesina made this assertion on Thursday in an article titled “The Essential Buhari: Vp Osinbajo Got It!”.
In establishing his argument, the presidential spokesman alluded to a comment made by Professor Yemi Osinbajo in London last weekend.
Speaking with top officials of the Nigerian High Commission, Vice President Osinbajo said “the President is possibly the most popular Nigerian politician that we ever had in generations”.
Osinabjo added that “he (Buhari) is possibly the only person, who can go into a place or somewhere without bossing people to gather and they will come and listen to him speak”.
Building upon this premise, Adesina said he totally agrees with the VP’s assessment of the president.
“I am old enough to have seen our colourful and even swashbuckling politicians in action. I have seen the great Obafemi Awolowo. The charismatic Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa). Shehu Shagari. Amino Kano. M.K.O Abiola. Bashir Tofa, and many others in action. But I have not seen anyone with the kind of attraction, magnetic pull, that Muhammadu Buhari has. And that is round the country, north and south. People swarm around him as bees do to honey.
“I have been around the country with the President. I have also been to several countries of the world with him. I have not seen any other Nigerian leader, past or present, with his kind of allure, pull, fascination, magnetism. And that is why VP Osinbajo is right to have described him as possibly ‘the most popular Nigerian politician that we ever had in this generation,” Adesina submitted.
The special media aide stressed that he has personally experienced the love, loyalty, and dedication Buhari enjoys from Nigerians irrespective of tribe, religion, or age, adding that it is above the acceptance that has been accorded other politicians both past and present.