Muhammadu Buhari has been criticised for good 24 hours after he said Nigerian youth are lazy. However, in a new statement, the Presidency on Thursday has explained that President Buhari was not referring his statement to all the youth in the country.
Femi Adesina, who is the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has made the clarification in a statement that was made available to journalists.
Adesina referred the outrage that followed after the President’s comment to those he described as “manipulators and twisters” of Buhari’s statements.
He said:
“Typical of their stock in trade, manipulators and twisters of statements of Mr. President, who lie in wait to make mischief, interpreted the comment to mean that President Buharihad taken all Nigerian youths to the cleaners.
“But elementary English recognises a wide gulf between ‘a lot of’ and the word ‘all.’ How can ‘a lot of them,’ suddenly transmogrify to mean ‘all of them?’ Mischievous and unconscionable!
“There is no way President Buhari, father of the Nigerian nation in every sense of the word, who equally has biological children of his own in the youths age bracket, pass a vote of no confidence on all youths.
“It can only exist in the imagination of those who play what the President has described as ‘irresponsible politics’ with everything.”
Buhari’s spokesman had always congratulated and celebrated Nigerian youths who want to excel in different areas of their endeavour, from sports to academia, and fields.
He said that President Buhari would continue to do so, because he have a good plan for the youth, and knows that they are the pathway on which the future of the country rests upon.
“Indeed, every country has its share of idle population, and it is the bounden duty of government at all levels, to create an enabling environment for them to actualise their potential. That is what President Buhari is committed to doing.
