TheCable

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, says the life of every single Nigerian matters to the government, despite recent attacks by suspected herdsmen and the spate of criminal acts by militants.

In the past week, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been roundly criticised for not being proactive on several attacks in parts of the country.

Criticism has also come from advocacy group, BringBackOurGirls, whose leaders expressed displeasure with the handling of the rescue of the abducted Chibok girls.

Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education and a leader of BBOG, on Monday reminded the president of his “pledge to give justice of rescue to the Chibok gilrs”.

Aisha Yesufu, also a leader of BBOG, was detailed in her criticism of the President.

While she questioned the presidency’s willingness to rescue the Chibok girls, she noted that the “Nigerian government’s response to terrorism is not as global practice from other governments”.

Commenting on the delay in constituting a body to give support to those rescued from Boko Haram captivity, Yesufu added: “If the govt isn’t lackadaisical, why hasn’t the committee commenced work since 14 January 2016, six months after.”

Responding to all these, Shehu wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday: “The life of every single Nigerian matters to this government and the security agencies, under the command of President Buhari, will continue to exert all its powers to ensure that every Nigerian is safe from the brutality of terrorists and terrorism.”