Garba Shehu | |
---|---|
Born | 1959 Dutse Jigawa, State. |
Nationality | Nigeria |
Alma mater | Barewa College Bayero University |
Occupation | Journalist |
Known for | Journalism |
Title | Mallam |
Political party | All Progressive Congress (APC) |
Mallam Garba Shehu born on (November 27, 1959) is a Nigerian Journalist and politician who serves as the Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. [1] He was the president of Nigerian Guild of Editors and spokesperson of the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar. [2] [3]
Shehu was born on December 12, 1962, in Dutse, Jigawa State where he grew up with his parents. [4]
Shehu attended Dutse primary school in 1970. He furthered his education at Barewa College, Zaria in 1975. In 1981, he obtained a bachelor's degree from Bayero University, Kano. [4]
Shehu started his career as a correspondent at Nigerian Television Authority, Sokoto in 1982. He was then an energy correspondent at Network News Lagos in 1984. He became the managing director (MD) of the Triumph at the age of thirty-three (33) and the President of the Guild of Editors at the age of thirty-seven (37). [5]
The former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, appointed him as Special Assistant on Media in 2003. [6] Shehu was relieved six (6) months later by the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo who was empowered by the constitution to appoint nd relieve political aides for the Vice President. He continued working at the Atiku Media Office (AMO), the media organ of the then Vice President's political movement, after his sack. [5]
In 2015, he was appointed the director of Media and Publicity of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the presidential campaign council. In 2015, he was appointed as Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari and was reappointed after the President was sworn in for another term of four (4) years. He currently writes as a columnist in the Nigerian Premium Times. [7] [4]
In November 2020, Boko Haram members killed 66 people, mostly farmers and fishermen at Koshobe village near Zabarmari, Jere Local Government Area of Borno State. [8] Garba Shehu was criticized after his interview with BBC [9] where he said the victims didn't get military clearance to farm. [10]
In December 2020, about 333 students were abducted in the town of Kankara, in Katsina state. Garba Shehu came under heavy criticism when he said only 10 students were abducted contrary to the state government and media claims. He would later apologize for misleading the public. [11]
On December 23, 2020, a former presidential spokesperson, Reno Omokri, challenged Garba Shehu, after his claim that President Muhammadu Buhari has made Nigeria safer that it was, to spend a night without security in Koshobe, or Kware, verified by an independent journalist. Reno promised a reward of $20,000.
Garba Shehu in his response said; "If this is the money from the collections made in the name of Leah Sharibu, the unfortunate Christian girl stolen by Boko Haram, I won’t touch it with a long. Please keep “your USD20000"". [12] He was criticized by Nigerians who believe his description of Leah Sharibu as "unfortunate Christian girl" is insensitive. [13]
Muhammadu Buhari is a Nigerian statesman who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian Army major general, he served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power from the Shehu Shagari civilian government in a military coup d'état. The term Buharism is used to describe the authoritarian policies of his military regime.
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and was the first incumbent president in Nigerian history to concede defeat in an election and therefore allow for a peaceful transition of power.
Babagana Kingibe OV GCON is a Nigerian diplomat, politician and civil servant who has held several high ranking government offices, culminating in his appointment as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation from 2007 to 2008. He spent over a decade in the Foreign Service cadre and has been in politics since the 1970s, serving six heads of state; most recently as a member of the inner circle of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Atiku Abubakar ; born 25 November 1946) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran for the office of governor of Adamawa State in 1990 and 1996 unsuccessfully, but won in 1998. Before he was sworn in, he was selected as running mate to former military leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, during the 1999 presidential election and was re-elected in 2003.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. It was established in 1998 shortly before Nigeria's transition from military to civilian rule.
Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, is an Islamist terrorist jihadist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group split, resulting in the emergence of a hostile faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province.
Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gwoza, a border town "about 135 kilometres South-East of Maiduguri." The postal code of the area is 610.
The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region.
Reno Omokri is a Nigerian author and social media influencer.
On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group called Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School at the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. Prior to the raid, the school had been closed for four weeks due to deteriorating security conditions, but the girls were in attendance in order to take final exams in physics.
General elections were held in Nigeria on 28 and 29 March 2015, the fifth quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999. Voters elected the President and members to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, sought his second and final term.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Nigeria.
The 2015 Baga massacre was a series of mass killings carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Baga and its environs, in the state of Borno, between 3 January and 7 January 2015.
Aisha Halilu Buhari ; born 17 February 1971) is a professional beauty therapist who served as the First Lady of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.
Muhammadu Buhari's tenure as the 15th president of Nigeria began with his first inauguration on 29 May 2015, and ended on 29 May 2023. A retired general and member of the All Progressives Congress from Katsina State, he previously served as military head-of-state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, when he was deposed in a military coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida. Buhari took office following a decisive victory over incumbent Peoples Democratic Party president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2019 presidential election, he defeated PDP candidate former vice president Atiku Abubakar to win re-election. Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in Nigerian history.
On February 19, 2018, at 5:30 pm, 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years old were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist group from the Government Girls' Science and Technical College (GGSTC). Dapchi is located in Bulabulin, Bursari Local Government area of Yobe State, in the northeast part of Nigeria. The federal government of Nigeria deployed the Nigerian Air Force and other security agencies to search for the missing schoolgirls and to hopefully enable their return. The governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam, blamed Nigerian Army soldiers for having removed a military checkpoint from the town. Dapchi lies approximately 275 km northwest of Chibok, where over 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014.
The following is a list of events in 2020 in Nigeria.
The Koshebe massacre took place on 28 November 2020 in the village of Koshebe, Nigeria, in Borno State, when as many as 110 civilians and peasant farmers were killed and six were wounded as they worked in rice fields in Koshebe village, near the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. The attack was thought to be carried out by the Boko Haram insurgency. About 15 women were also kidnapped.
The following is a list of events in 2021 in Nigeria.
During the early evening of 23 February 2021, Boko Haram militants fired a series of rocket-propelled grenades in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. The attacks killed at least 10 people; many others were injured.