The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has blamed the opposition for pushing the “fake news” that President Muhammadu Buhari no longer enjoys the support of the international community.
He disclosed this in an interview published by Daily Sun on Monday.
According to him, Buhari has continued to get invitations from all over the world, with many countries offering to strengthen bilateral relations with the Nigerian government under him.
Asked if the international community had turned its back on Buhari, Onyeama said, “Not at all! Not at all! On the contrary, he has got a lot of outstanding invitations to visit a number of countries and they are all very keen to maintain and indeed, strengthen bilateral relationship with him at the helm of affairs of the country. So, far from it! I think on the contrary, they are still very much engaged with the country going forward.”
Addressing insinuations that Buhari had lost international support ahead of the 2019 polls, Onyeama added, “It is a weapon of the opposition clearly and also, a fake news. You have to hate somebody with whatever you can. So, they are clutching at straws. There was one that he was in Paris, but they said he wasn’t really there, that he wasn’t at the major events in Paris. But he went to Paris for one specific event and that was Peace Conference and he was one of the leaders who were given an opportunity to address an audience. So, he is very present and getting lots more of invitations and major countries are engaging with him. It is just political attacks, opportunism.”