President Muhammadu Buhari has made Saturday 25 February a day media adviser, Femi Adesina will for long cherish.
President Buhari who is taking an extended vacation in London, 5000km away, called Adesina, on phone, further reducing anxieties about him.
Adesina in both Facebook and Twitter posts today confirmed the president’s call:
“At exactly 2.43 p.m today, Saturday, February 25, 2017, my phone rang. Who was at the other end? Tunde Sabiu, personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Hold on for Mr President,” Tunde said.
And in a matter of seconds, the very familiar voice came:
“Femi, how are you?” (He calls me Adesina most times, but today, he opted for Femi)
I screamed :”Mr President, I have missed you. How are you sir?”
He first laughed. That familiar laugh. Then he said: “I am still resting. Thank you for holding out against mischief makers.”
I said it was my duty, the very least I could do, adding how happy I was to speak with him.
“How is your family?”
I said we were fine, and he asked me to extend his greetings to them.
“I hope to call you again, ” Mr President said, and I bade him farewell, adding: “Best wishes, sir.”
It was a defining moment for me. For more than a month, I had always spoken with aides who are with the President in London. Not once did I ask them to take the phone to him, deliberately so, because I didn’t need to speak with him to validate the fact that he was alive. And since he was on vacation, he had a right to his privacy.
Of his own volition, President Buhari spoke with me. It made my day. Even if he hadn’t done so, he would have remained my President, my leader, and my man. Any day.”
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has revealed that he missed his principal’s phone call on Saturday.
He revealed this on his Facebook page.
According to Shehu, Buhari spoke with some members of the presidential media team in his absence, but sent him a text message afterwards.
He wrote: “A day for the Presidential Media Team.
“We are thankful to the President, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) for sparing the time to make calls to the Media team.
“The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the Special Adviser, Femi Adesina responded to the calls, exchanged greetings and thanked him for calling.
“I had an SMS from him thereafter because I missed my call! I humbly join them to say thank you, Baba Buhari!!
“We are together with other Nigerians of all faiths, in praying for his safe return.”
President Buhari has been away from Nigeria since 19 January.
