02/04/2016
The Group has reacted to the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Garba Shehu, who made a statement and denouement in his statement that the “Presidency dissociates itself from Group.”
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Press release
On behalf of members and other passionate Nigerians on the platform of , we hereby make the following resolutions in reaction to the statement made by the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu who we hold in high esteem.
Our resolutions are;
We are volunteers and not dubious fraudsters as alleged
We are not funded by any individual, political association or group from within and outside the country.
We are not in any way using the name of Mr President for commercial purpose(s), rather we are passionate about the name because it is trending worldwide, as President Muhammadu Buhari, the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of our dear country.
It is completely unbecoming, unprofessional, and unethical of a person who speaks on behalf of Mr. President to use the word "Dubious" to describe thousands of Nigerians who voted for the President at the last dispensation.
We are inspired by the key agenda of Mr President which are; war against corruption, treasury single account (TSA) and fight against insurgency in the north east, and also bridging the information gap between the federal government and the masses through well articulated programs.
It is curious to note that the next day after Garba Shehu denounced our organisation, he announced that the Government would be embarking on programs very similar to those presented in our organisation's manifesto.
It is also suspicious to us that Garba Shehu denounced the organisation based on the earlier planned 9 million man March which had been suspended by the Ag. National coordinator of our organisation. This made his reference to us as "praise singers” needless and malicious. It is also suspicious that after denouncing our organization, a separate group let a march to the presidential Villa on the same day (March 31st) we intended to but he did not denounce them, neither did he denounce another group who marched to EFCC a few weeks ago using the name .
As responsible Nigerians, we agreed to use the social media and our state structures to promote these policies in reaction to an earlier opposition group claiming to organise a one million march against Mr President, and to counter and organise a mega rally of nine million Nigerians in support of the fight against corruption.
We were of utmost conviction that any plan to stop and frustrate this initiative should be resisted as we see it as corruption fighting back. It must also be stated herein that our organisation operated within confines and dictates of the Law of our dear Nation.
To this end we challenge the office of the Senior Special Assistant to Mr President on Media and Publicity within seven days of this publication, to publish the names of any one in our team that has been prosecuted and convicted by the court of law for any act of corruption or fraud.
If he fails to fulfil this obligation and heed to our demand, we shall take this issue up legally.
This is to serve as a notice to him to retract those allegations upon us and a
seven- day grace period to do such.
With such spurious, and unconfirmed allegations by a representative of a Public Office holder, a lot of our members have been threatened, embarrassed and harassed and will resist any attempt to malign or intimidate anyone associated with the organisation in this era of rule of law.
We acknowledge that no more than a few individuals in our leadership may have questionable allegiances but this is in NO way enough ground to term thousands of our members "Dubious". This is a clear instance of defamation of character.
That is our position on the matter, as Mr President is not there through an executive fiat but by the votes of Nigerians.
All other similar organizations should take note because corruption is fighting back right from the office of Mr President. We can never be intimidated.
Signed
All Zonal and State coordinators
For. ISTANDWITHBUHARI
