Presidency recalls punch reporter after he was expelled by Buhari’s Chief Security Officer

The Presidency late Monday has recalled the Punch newspaper State House correspondent, Lekan Adetayo, who was expelled from the presidential villa by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar.


The President media team said on Monday that they were not notified before Adetayo was expellled from the presidential villa.

The presidency in a statement via its Twitter account, @NGRPresident, said President Buhari’s administration was committed to freedom of the press.

“Lekan Adetayo, the @MobilePunch Correspondent, has been recalled to the State House. We reiterate PMB’s commitment to press freedom,” the tweet stated.

The Chief Security Officer, CSO, to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Abubakar, expelled the Punch Newspapers correspondent from the Aso Rock Presidential Villa because of a story about Mr. Buhari’s ill health published by his newspaper on Sunday, Mr. Adetayo alleged.

The Punch Newspapers had reported that the journalist was summoned by the CSO to explain two of his recent stories from the State House.

“He referred to the lead story of SUNDAY PUNCH of April 23, 2017, titled “Fresh anxiety in Aso Rock over Buhari’s poor health” and queried the motive behind it

“He also referred to our corespondent’s column, Aso Rock Lens, published on Saturday, April 22, 2017, and titled “Seat of power’s event centres going into extinction,” The Punch Newspapers said in a report on Monday evening.

Mr. Adetayo was grilled for 45 minutes, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) dispatch from the State House.

However, the President’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina, feign ignorant of the situation. He said his office wasn’t consulted before the expulsion was carried out.

“We weren’t consulted in the media office by the CSO before he expelled The Punch reporter,” Mr. Adesina said in a reaction to news reports about Mr. Adetayo on Twitter. “President Buhari is committed to press freedom.”

He said in a follow-up tweet that an amicable solution would be found to The Punch reporter matter while stressing that the president would not hinder press freedom.

Mr. Adetayo’s report raised questions about a supposed cover-up of President’s health.

The report suggested that the president’s ill health might have prevented him from meeting some of his top officials, including ministers, and added that most of the duties in the presidency have been transferred to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.


The report also said some State House staffers were allegedly growing increasingly skeptical about Mr. Buhari’s ill-health, especially due to the fact that the president had been seldom seen in public since he returned to the country March 10 from a 50-day medical vacation.