TheCable

Femi Adesina, ex-media aide to former President Muhammadu Buhari, says his principal called the name ‘Jesus’ when Yemi Osinbajo survived a helicopter crash.

In  February 2019, a helicopter conveying the former vice-president from Abuja to Kabba in Kogi state crash-landed.

In his book titled: ‘Working with Buhari: Reflections of A Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023)’, Adesina said the former president, while congratulating Osinbajo for surviving the crash, said to him: “Jesus was not far away, he saved you”.

The former presidential spokesperson said Buhari is far from the bigot most perceive him to be.

“Bigot? I hear,” Adesina wrote in his book.

“Our first Christmas in government. December 2015. I wanted to spend the season in Lagos. And I asked him for permission.

“By all means, he answered. I know the Vice President, yourself, and some others are church people. Please go. Spend Christmas and New Year with your families.

“When you now come back, me too I will go for a few days. And he laughed.

“Bigot? They never want to hear of Christmas. Since 2015, he would give all Christians working with him time off every Easter and Christmas. I like that kind of bigotry.

“When the Foursquare Gospel Church turned 60 years in Nigeria. I told the President, and he gladly agreed to meet with the leadership. He did. Bigot? Please tell me another story.

“The Vice President survived an helicopter crash in 2019. The President publicly rejoiced with him, and then at the next Federal Executive Council meeting, he congratulated the VP again.

“Jocularly, he said: ‘I can imagine that when the chopper crashed with a bang, VP as a pastor must have shouted, Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! And fortunately, Jesus was not far away, so He saved him’.

“We all laughed. But one instructive lesson. Bigots don’t like Jesus. They never want to hear His name, or attribute anything miraculous to Him.

“Buhari, a bigot? I beg, comot for road, make I pass. It is said that as a military commander, he gave opportunity for Muslim soldiers to observe the jumat on Fridays, and Christian soldiers were allowed to go to church on Sundays.

“A bigot would allow Muslims and pretend that Christians didn’t exist.”