The Presidency on Thursday reacted to the report by the Foreign Policy Magazine tagging Nigeria a “Failing State.”
The response, made public by Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the article on Nigeria in Foreign Affairs titled, “The Giant of Africa is Failing,” is “unfair both to a magazine with such an esteemed pedigree and to its readers.”
In the response, which recalls a number of doomsday predictions on the collapse of Nigeria by Ambassador Campbell, The Presidency said it was his opinion and not the reality on ground as “events consistently prove him wrong.”
Accusing Campbelll of distorting facts to support his opinion on Nigeria, The Presidency cited instances in the article.
Campbell wrote: “At an April meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Buhari reportedly requested that the headquarters of the U.S. Africa Command be moved from Germany to Nigeria so that it would be closer to the fight against Jihadi groups in the country’s North.”
However, The Presidency said, “President Buhari did not request that AFRICOM move to Nigeria. The transcript of the call with Secretary Blinken is available on the State Department’s own website.
“It’s not just a question of the invented addition of ‘to Nigeria’ with regard to AFRICOM. It sums up a piece that attempts -subtly but revealingly- to shift facts to suit an argument.”
The Presidency further added that, “Nigeria faces multiple challenges, not least of which is the dissemination of fake news and prejudiced opinion.
“This is something we have come to expect from partisan blogs and politically motivated lobbies. It is still a surprise, and a disappointment, to see them joined by Foreign Affairs.”
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