Mr. Yushau A. Shuaib is a Graduate of Mass-Communication, Bayero University Kano with a Masters Degree in Public Relations from the University of Westminster, London. He is a consummate writer and crisis-communicator per excellence

Called YAShuaib on social media platforms, he has practised PR since his university day, serving as the spokesperson of the Mass Communication Students Association (MACOSA) and winning the NIPR Prize for the Best Student in PR 1992.

Immediately after his youth service in Asaba, Delta State where he won Local, State and Presidential NYSC awards with automatic employment, he served as PRO Delta State Government House, Asaba and later became Press Secretary in various Federal Ministries including Information, Finance; Health; Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Outside the Public service, he has provided advisory services to corporate organisations and consulted for critical institutions in the Military, Security, Intelligence and Response Agencies, including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) providing crisis communication services.

In the course of his career as a PR person and writer, he has published over 300 media articles and authored some books including:
1 Nightmare for the Rich
2 Dozen Tips for Media Relations”
3. Financial Public Relations
4. Perceptions on Online Public Relations in Nigeria
5 An Encounter with Spymaster
6. Award-Winning Crisis Communication strategies among others.

Shuaib is a recipient of several outstanding honours, especially in Public Relations. He was PR man of the Year of NIPR Kano/Jigawa Chapter in 1995, Outstanding Digital PR Practitioner of NIPR FCT Chapter in 2019 and the prestigious NIPR Presidential award also in 2019.

Through some of his initiatives, his firm, the Image Merchants Promotion (IMPR) Limited, (the PRNigeria and Economic Confidential magazine), has consistently won the African PR Awards in South-Africa 2016/7, Morocco 2017, Botswana 2018, Kigali 2019, Tanzania 2020-2022.

At the global scene, his firm remains the only PR agency in Africa to have won on several occasions the Golden World Award (GWA) of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) on Crisis Management in Qatar 2016, Bulgaria 2017, Spain 2018, Armenia 2019-2020 and in 2022 which was billed to take place in Japan.

The firm was declared “the Most Creative PR Agency Worldwide 2020 by Global Creativity Index GCI according to respected PR journal, Provoke Media and cited by Statista, the world-renowned statistics portal.

His hobby is playing badminton, writing and speaking on PR. He enjoys the meal of Indomie Noodle during his leisure time.

The post Yushau A. Shuaib: A Brief on Founder of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential appeared first on YAShuaib.

You have started again! You should know that PR is not a licence to support atrocities. Innocent persons (at Lekki) were deliberately murdered by your clients (Nigerian Army) and for you, profit is more important than those souls.
– Omoyele Sowore, Publisher of Sahara Reporters.

The above was a text message sent to me by my good friend, Omoyele Sowore after PRNigeria published a 204-page book titled, 101 Fake News on EndSARS” and commenced the serialisation of some of the blunders and inconsistencies contained in the recently submitted report of the Lagos State EndSARS panel chaired by Retired Justice Doris Okuwobi.

In fairness to Sowore, he has been consistent in his brand of activism through citizen journalism. But in our many debates, I have always explained to him that the public relations approach through fact-seeking and efforts at mutual understanding are better ways of managing difficult situations.

I have received similar concerns from people of goodwill and even from unknown individuals, who claim I am on the payroll of the Nigerian Army, and that all the things we do at PRNigeria are for pecuniary gains. I am therefore compelled to clear the erroneous impression about PRNigerias relationship with the Nigerian Army and our position on the EndSARS panel report.

First, while PR is a profitable business in the communications practice, in which a practitioner legitimately deserves a remuneration, we have never had a client-relationship with the Nigerian Army, since the emergence of General Tukuru Buratai as the Chief of Army Staff in 2015. The Nigerian Army is NOT our client but one of the stakeholders in the brand of journalism we practice.

In fact, PRNigeria has never been engaged directly or indirectly by the Nigerian Army in the last six years, but we enjoy the fact of having access to authoritative and sometimes sensitive information from credible authorities and reliable sources in the sector to authenticate our reports.

Having had a good working relationship with all the Army spokespersons, from Brigadier Generals Sani Kukasheka, Sagir Musa, Mohammed Yerima to the incumbent, Onyema Nwachukwu, they are living witnesses to the professional integrity of our communication outfit.

Some public commentators have accused us not a few times of excessively defending the Army, especially General Buratai, the past Army Chief who is now the Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic. They ignore the fact that objective reportage is not about defending anyone but providing accurate, timely and credible information. While we objectively reported the clearance of Buratai over the Dubai properties saga and highlighted his earlier successes in decimating Boko Haram terrorists and institutional accomplishments, we were yet very critical of the Nigerian Army over the Zaria massacre of 2015, the unjust retirement of the Army 38 in 2016, the closure of the offices of Daily Trust newspapers in 2019, the killing of Police officers by soldiers in Taraba in 2019, and the tenure elongation of military chiefs in 2020, among others.

Just as the critics attack us, so do the apologists on the other side. For instance, some Army media consultants sponsored a number of articles in several media houses claiming that we are financiers and masterminds of the Boko Haram insurgency. Not only did we report them to the security and intelligence services, but we also sued the accusers in a court of law, to clear our names.

Our support for the military and intelligence services, especially the Nigerian Army, is our own way of showing patriotism in the defence of national interests when doing so could deny us of securing grants from foreign interests. Our editorial policy does not glorify the activities of enemies of the state. We deliberately censor their propaganda by supporting the gallantry of Nigerian security against violent agitations, banditry, terrorism among others.

The Chief of Military Intelligence and now Chief of Defence Intelligence, General Samuel Adebayo, can testify to the fact that while we were not engaged to provide any crisis communication component of the Nigerian counterterrorism strategy, we never felt bad about this. After all, General Buratai only demonstrated his detribalized nature by engaging other firms for the Armys PR services.

Meanwhile, we are equally not unmindful of the fact that the lack of patronage by the Nigerian Army and few others is likely due to the fact that we had worked closely with a consummate spymaster on the national security architecture during the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Nevertheless, while we had no pecuniary relationship with the Nigerian Army, General Buratai was gracious enough to have acceded to our interventions on the plight of some journalists and media houses in critical moments, and he even delegated officers to attend our programmes.

Still, with all sense of modesty, if the Nigerian Army were indeed our client, they would not have committed the communication harakiri of initially denying the presence of troops at the Lekki Toll Plaza during the height of the EndSDARS protest of October 20, 2020.

The armys blunder, which is also cited in the book, “101 Fake News on EndSARS,” is among the reasons for the public mistrust of the security services and lingering distrust of the government since that incident.

Meanwhile, the EndSARS panels attempt to redefine the meaning of the words massacre and genocide was faulted by professional opinions of pathologists, forensic experts, ballistic specialists, legal practitioners, among others, as contained in the report itself.

Interestingly, the author of the book on EndSARS, Dahiru M. Lawal, was an early supporter of the EndSARS movement, until the peaceful protests turned violent. The decentralised mass movement against police brutality was unfortunately hijacked by hoodlums, leading to violent attacks, including killings and the destruction of property worth billions of naira.

For instance, the initial video of a policeman allegedly shooting a civilian in Ughelli, Delta State, which triggered the EndSARS rallies, and other similar reports, turned out to be fake.

As chronicled in the book, notable personalities, including the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, had to issue written and record video rejoinders respectively, to deny the fake inciteful statements attributed to them during the crisis.

Similarly, politicians like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had to address the press on falsehoods fabricated against them, which could have inflamed situations then.

Some spokespersons to public officials, Femi Adesina and Funke Egbemode, both incidentally former Presidents of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), were also victims of the mischief of fake news merchants.

These peddlers of illicit information, apart from impersonating celebrities, also lied against religious bodies by grafting the images of Catholic Bishops on their false narratives, claiming that these distinguished clerics were marching in support of EndSARS, while this was blatantly untrue. In another misleading contrivance, some female Muslims were also said to be protesting in Katsina State, while no such thing happened.

Meanwhile, some of the credible, traditional media platforms that published fake stories and footage from that series of protests have since dropped these unfortunate contents from their sites. One of the national broadcast stations “Arise TV” that quoted the famed witness DJ Switchs claim that snipers were shooting protesters from Access bank building, had to tender an apology after the management of the bank issued a statement saying the people located on their head office tower were staff members carrying out maintenance work on the building, and not Nigerian Army snipers who had been drafted to kill protesters.

While some of the media could not offer unreserved apologies for misleading the public, a diligent web search reveals that a number of pages that had initially carried the fake news have since dropped them which are no longer online.

I strongly believe that media platforms should be harnessed as effective tools in swiftly countering false information, especially if this is defamatory, discriminatory, malicious, uncorroborated or clearly dangerous.

We must find a way of protecting our ethnic and religious diversity in Nigeria, which is a source of strength so that our fault lines are not exploited by undesirable elements bent on setting citizens against each other.

Government must find a way of regaining the needed, but already eroded, confidence of the public/masses of Nigerians, due to the high wave of distrust and cynicism about its officials, statements, and actions.

Also, the Nigerian security services should always display utmost professionalism in the course of discharging their statutory responsibilities, while also eschewing the temptation to be corrupt, high-handed and lawless, especially in their interactions with regular Nigerians.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author “An Encounter with the Spymaster” and Crisis Communication Strategies
www.YAShuaib.com

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Dear General Buratai,

I thank you for inviting media executives and public relations practitioners, through the Deputy President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mallam Suleiman Gaya for the interactive dialogue held in Maiduguri last December, 2018. The event was friendly, frank and sincere, towards evolving stakeholders’ engagement and enhancing military-media relations.

However, a few days after the well-attended engagement, the Nigeria Army declared an activist, Dr. Perry Brimah wanted over alleged fundraising for troops. The military also subsequently invaded the offices of leading national newspaper, Daily Trust and arrested some of its journalists over an ‘exclusive’ report it had recently published on the counter-insurgency strategy of the Nigerian Army.

I must tell you frankly that these incidences were worrisome and portend a huge minus to the desired mutual military-media relations being striven towards.

It might interest the Army, Sir, to note that similar media indiscretions during the previous administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan were well-managed when news editors were inundated with confidential information in the name of exclusive reports.

For instance, on the evening of Friday, February 13, 2015, almost four years ago, there was intelligence about a sensitive news story that had been filed to the headquarters of Daily Trust in Abuja by Hamza Idris, a war reporter who doubled as the Bureau Chief of the paper in Borno State, and is currently a political editor.

The filed story coincided with the commencement of ruthless military operations in which many Boko Haram terrorists attempting to over-run Maiduguri were eliminated. The Nigerian Air Force had then intensified aerial bombardments of the dreaded Sambisa Forest, leading to the recovery of the towns of Monguno, Marte and others from the terrorists. President Goodluck Jonathan was billed to fly in an airforce helicopter to the liberated towns of Baga, Mubi and others.

At the time, I was assigned by the Security Service to ensure that a sensitive aspect of the filed story concerning special forces was not published. For several hours and into the midnight of that Friday, I was in touch with the Defence Correspondent, Ronald Mutum; the North-East Bureau Chief, Hamza Idris; Daily Editor, Nasir Lawal; and Saturday Editor, Abdulkarim Baba-Aminu appealing to and finally convincing them of the implications of disclosing such sensitive part of the story to the public.

Lucky enough, in the newspaper published the following day, the sensitive portion of the cover story, which was subject of concern, had been expunged. Dozens of towns were later recovered and President Jonathan flew into Baga, Mubi and other liberated towns to felicitate with the gallant troops. That was when Jonathan honoured the late Lt Col. Abu Ali for his military prowess and valour.

General Buratai, sir, there were several instances in which the Nigerian media demonstrated excessive patriotism in protecting national security. During that period, Femi Adesina, who was President of Nigerian Guild of Editors and General Chris Olukolade, the Defence Spokesperson ensured that the security services put news editors in confidence about major operations and the media were very supportive treating highly classified information with the delicateness it required. And, those editorial gestures were at NO COST to the government.

Sir, you may be surprised to note that some of the harshest critics of the military during the Jonathan administration were mostly strong supporters of General Buhari’s candidacy for president. They included media practitioner, Omoyele Sowore of Sahara Reporters, civil society actors like Dr. Ahmed Idris of Citizens United for Peace and Stability (CUPS) and Dr. Issa Perry Brimah of Every Nigerian Do Something (ENDS), among others. Then, the security services tolerated the excesses of critics of the administration to some extent, as some of their outbursts were borne of genuine concerns, which also influenced positive social change and the upgrading of security tactics and strategies.

Meanwhile, on your assumption of office, critics gave the service chiefs breathing space for sometime before resuming their ‘constructive engagements’, not necessarily of the military per se but of you as Chief of Army Staff, after the Zaria Shi’ite massacre and the Dubai property imbroglio.

Surprisingly, some of these persons, who are my good friends, bore me bitter for founding PRNigeria as a platform for alternative narratives on the performance of the military as an institution. Although public relations is a legitimate and profitable communications business, they fail to realise that since the appointment of the current National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno and service chiefs, the Media/PR outfit has never been paid a kobo for managing the reputation of the security agencies and promoting their activities. Yets, PRNigeria takes solace in the fact that we have unfettered access to very top officers and security spokespersons for credible, reliable and timely information in its work.

General sir, you need to establish a better rapport and engage with the media and other critical stakeholders closely, for them to appreciate your efforts as the Chief of Army Staff. Some of them even lack basic information about much of your past accomplishments in commanding troops and in the communities you served. They may have forgotten that as JTF Commander, you stabilised the Niger Delta region, having wrested it from the scourge of armed militancy; that as the Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, not only did you train cadets on guerrilla war tactics and counter-insurgency manoeuvres, you also endeared yourself to the troops before their eventual deployment as the first special forces to fight Boko Haram in the North-East. Your brief stint as the first Force Commander of the rejuvenated Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), after the recovery of over two-dozen towns from the terrorists, further consolidated our military gains and sustained relationship with neighbours. Your hardline stance and no-nonsense approach to acts of terrorism, even while sustaining the personal losses of your country home in Buratai being burnt and security guard killed by Boko Haram.

The recent altercation of the Nigeria Army and the media is not the first in your tenure as Chief of Army Staff (COAS). You may recall that after the arrest of the publishers of Sahara Reporters and Premium Times in February 2017, I wrote an article titled, “Self-censorship and Security Report”, through which I cautioned that as a service chief you should be wary of busy-body consultants and lawyers who may wish to profit from the misunderstanding between the military and the media by instigating the taking of irrational steps. Like I pointed out there, “No one fights the press publicly, especially the credible media, in attempt to enforce censorship, not self-censorship, and gets away with it unscathed.”

In a nutshell, my dear General, the most recent military siege on the media could be well-managed if we consider the sacrifice and risk being taken by editors who have unfettered access to citizens and troops in embattled communities, with information at their disposal on some unpleasant developments in the North-East. They nevertheless remain steadfast and supportive, with fair and occasional self-imposed censorship in their reportage to protect the integrity of the Nigerian security system.

Much of the security challenges that have come up are associated with misinformation, disinformation and the lack of credible intelligence. While the military can claim to have strong weapons, with their guns and bombs, the media actually possesses stronger weapons, with their pens and keyboards, in changing mindsets, engaging in psychological warfare, strengthening the fighting spirit of troops, boosting the confidence of citizens and weakening the morale of terrorists.

Sir, I dare urge that constructive engagement in information management is very essential at this crucial period our dear General, and the soldiers’ soldier.

Once again, I thank you for the last invitation as I wish you a more rewarding New Year and better-managed relationship with all the critical stakeholders in the Nigerian security system, and its administration.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Author, An Encounter with the Spymaster
Recipient of SABRE African Public Relations Award
and International Public Relations Award (IPRA) on Crisis Management

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Yushau A. Shuaib at African Excellence Award in South-Africa

Celebrating Quintessential Shuaib
Jaafar Jaafar
Publisher DailyNigerian

Yushau Abdulhameed Shuaib is a household name in Nigerian media and public relations industry. And if kindness was an industry, Shuaib could be one of the famous players.

My relationship with him started some 15 years ago during the golden days of Yahoogroups, gamji.com, amanaonline.com, Hi5, and a few other cyber social fora. Since then, he considered me as a rother.

Sometime in November last year, I went to see Shuaib in his office with a business proposal. “Sir, I wonder if you can give me an office space for a share in DAILY NIGERIAN,” I proposed nervously, clearing my throat.

Shuaib’s office (PRNigeria/Economic Confidential office) is big, with spacious offices, conference room, workstations, etc.

Unexpectedly, he cut in, saying: “Haba Jaafar! Stop this! Just because of a space here, you are proposing that I take a stake in your business? The best way to support you grow your business is to give you space free of charge.”

I sat there speechless, staring at him as he continued: “Come on Monday, the space will be created for you and your staff.”
At that time I was almost working alone – reporting, writing, proof-reading, copy-editing and editing – from a studio apartment in Maitama.

By the time I reported back, Shuaib had divided his editor’s office into two with glass cubicle, bought a new desk and chairs for me! “You can use here,” he said as he ushered me into the new office, “your staff can take seats at the workstation.”

I was again speechless, battling tears. “There is also free Wi-Fi, so don’t bother to waste your money on data. I will deploy a corps member to assist you. And don’t worry I will take care of his allowances,” he added.

Shuaib did not stop there. He asked if DAILY NIGERIAN had International Standard Serial Number (ISSN number), and I replied in the negative. He called Kenneth Ahonsi at the National Library and asked me to meet him. “And don’t pay. I will settle it,” Shuaib declared with refined finality.

At that time I couldn’t hold back tears. I then wondered inwardly who, if not exceptional human beings, could give you this exceptional support? I wondered again: Although this man is not a high net worth individual, but he did what the billionaires could not do to support someone grow.

Sometimes he would come to my cubicle to sound me out on some issues or “reprimand” me for allowing DAILY NIGERIAN ranking to slump or why I was absent for a few days.

With a business address, clients began to patronise our services and the business soon picked up.

Less than a year after Shuaib incubated us, he came up with an idea of hatching DAILY NIGERIAN in a new environment “over-befitting” our status.

“There is a vacant space nearby,” he said, “Let’s go and see it.” Off we went, chatting and throwing banters.

The new office space is as big as his, with even larger courtyard. To cut the story short, Shuaib encouraged and supported me to get the new office DAILY NIGERIAN is proudly situated at today.

In Nigerian setting, Shuaib is truly a rare breed. Shouldn’t a ‘Nobel Prize in Kindness’ be instituted by the Swedish Academy to honour this man?

As you add a year today, I wish you long life, good health and prosperity. Happy Birthday, Sir!

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The Publisher of PRNigeria, a press release platform for critical institutions, Yushau Shuaib has petitioned the Inspector General of Police(IGP) Mr. Ibrahim Idris over harassment and intimidation of his family members living in Abuja, especially the Gestapo style his family members were subjected to by a team of Policemen and woman from Lagos.

In a 30-paragraph letter addressed to the IGP dated September 11, 2017, the petitioner noted that the team from Lagos had claimed that Governor Ambode of Lagos state was aware of an alleged massive fraud committed in Lagos involving his Son, Gidado Shuaib.

The Police Team, led by one Inspector Babatunde (08056506863, 08081700099) who claimed to have arrived from the Office of the Lagos state Governor had initially informed the wife of the petitioner by telephone that they were from an MTN Team to deliver a seasonal gift to her, which raised suspicions from the wife before her eventual alarm, suspecting them to be a kidnap gang before nearby residents came to her rescue.

The petitioner also resisted the attempt to be taken to Lagos for questioning by the team stressing that he was not the suspect, a move also supported by the Divisional Police Officer of Wuye Police station, CSP Solome Hardy (Mrs.) who categorically told them she would never allow them to take him to Lagos because he was not the suspect of their investigation.

The Petitioner, Yushau Shuaib in the petition to the IGP is demanding the reason and justification for the harassment of himself and especially his wife who has been traumatized since then and undergoing medication and counselling.

Shuaib wrote: “The ridiculous treatment of myself and my wife with the detention in Wuye Police Station before our eventual release is not only appalling and scandalous but a calculated attempt to rubbish our hard-earned reputation, having used the last five years protecting and promoting the activities of security agencies in Nigeria.

“In fact, through PRNigeria Platform alone, we have syndicated and published over 300 official Press Releases from the Police in the last two years of the current administration as part of our social responsibility to our fatherland.

“While we have been threatened by terrorists and their sympathisers in the cause of our services, it is rather unfortunate that the police are now our tormentors.

“My fear, currently is not about me, my family or my son who will surely confront the Police with his lawyers over the reckless allegation on his return. My fear is: what may be happening to other ordinary Nigerians who do not have people in police or security agencies to put words on their behalf?

“Only God knows how many lives could have been lost with the kind of recklessness exhibited by the Lagos Police Team that engages in the gestapo-like operation of picking up people without providing the information on their alleged offences.”

The petitioner, therefore, urged the Police boss to provide clear information of the alleged offences purportedly committed by his son; to Direct one Inspector Babatunde (08056506863, 08081700099) to stop threatening them with phone calls insisting they must be in Lagos in the absence of their son. He also urged the police to tender unreserved apology for treating his family like a common criminal without adequate proof of the allegations.

Shuaib further disclosed that his ordeal contravenes a clear provision of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 which prohibits the arrest of another person in place of a suspect. He also pointed out that with the unprofessional and questionable manner of the Lagos Police Team, he urged the Police boss to transfer the case to any of your Special Investigation Units in the Force Headquarters or to the FCT Police Command

Shuaib said that with his strict monitoring and parental guidance over his children, he should also be held liable if his son is found guilty of the alleged offence. “I am not only a guardian but a Father in every sense of the word,” he concluded.

See below, the copy of the letter
By PRNigeria
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

September 11, 2017

Inspector General of Police
Nigeria Police Headquarters
Abuja

Sir,

LAGOS POLICE’S HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION OF FAMILY OF YUSHAU SHUAIB IN ABUJA
I write to report the harassment and intimidation of my family by a Police Team from Lagos who claimed to be from the Governor’s Office, Alausa Ikeja.

2. On August 21, 2017, my wife received a phone call purported to be from an MTN Team coming to deliver a seasonal gift to her. Suspicious of such gifts at a period of insecurity, their calls were ignored. With persistent calls, she told them she was going towards Wuye Market with her sister where they were accosted by four hefty men and a woman claiming to be from the Police.

3. When they attempted to bundle her into their white saloon car, she resisted by raising her voice, shouting for help. She learnt the trick of ‘shouting’ to evade abductions by suspected kidnappers who use names of security agencies to whisk away innocent victims.

4. Realising the implication of her “shout” that could attract a mob action, they accepted her request to trek together to a nearby Wuye Divisional Police Station for fear of abduction.

5. When I was alerted to the incident, I rushed to the police station on a pyjamas and bathroom slippers only to be detained by the policemen who now seized our telephones and were dialling different telephone numbers from them.

6. When I insisted on what offences we committed for our detention and search on our phones, they claimed that Governor Ambode of Lagos was aware of an alleged massive fraud committed in Lagos involving my Son, Gidado Shuaib.

7. Though shocked and traumatised by the experience and the so-called massive fraud in Lagos, I can conveniently without an iota of doubt, vouch and defend the integrity of all my children, who were not only trained to be of good character but were groomed to imbibe value of simplicity, humility, hard-work and sacrifice.

8. Gidado had travelled the previous day as Member of MediaTeam for the coverage of Hajj Pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

9. The police team insisted we should write official statements about our son and some of his friends who are mostly university students. They further insisted that my wife could be granted a bail, while I must follow them to Lagos that day in my pyjamas.

10. Intervention from well-meaning senior security officers, whom I have worked with over the years by virtue of my professional callings saved me from being taken to Lagos that morning. The DPO of Wuye Police Station, CSP Solome Hardy (Mrs.) was very categorical when she told them point-blank that she would never allow them to take me to Lagos because I was not the suspect of their investigation.

11. The police Team reluctantly accepted DPO’s position, especially on health ground and that I should bring my son to Lagos upon his return from the foreign trip.

12. Gidado, my first son and his siblings are not only well-brought up, they are exceptionally humble, simple and very obedient that they hardly go out to seek for favours.

13. On the police allegation of fraud in Lagos, Gidado has never spent a night in Lagos in the last five years. In fact, he was only in Lagos on a transit to connect with a foreign airline on a trip to New York to attend the annual United Nations Youths Assembly where he was invited as a delegate in 2015. He didn’t even return through Lagos but through Abuja Airport. He has therefore never spent a single night in Lagos in the last five years.

14. Since September 2016 to May 2017, Gidado had been in the United Kingdom pursuing a Master Degree Programme on Communication at the University of Westminster. He started the programme immediately after his graduation from the Baze University Abuja.

15. Apart from the fact that I opened Bank Accounts for my Children, I closely monitor their transactions which give me ideas on their spending.

16. I deliberately arranged for Gidado to be staying with a very humble guardian in London who guarded and guided him throughout his stay. Most of his expenses were routed through the same guardian.

17. As a father, I subjected him to live an austere life in London so that he could imbibe the spirit of endurance, piety and independence rather than develop an ostentatious lifestyle.

18. As the Publisher of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential and other media outlets, I ensure Gidado earns extra allowances by writings, proofreading, editing and publishing.

19. While at the Baze University Abuja, Gidado introduced a magazine, YouthsDigest which focuses on students, education and youths engagements. He doesn’t engage in any other business apart from that.

20. In recognition of his entrepreneurship skills, Gidado was recently voted and honoured by SME100 as one of the 25 Young Nigerians under the age of 25 who have inspired others to greatness.

21. It is painful, however, that I have to write this letter over supposedly unproven allegations against an innocent young Nigerian for an offence in an environment he was not used to.

22. It is also shocking that in this age of technological advancement with affordable tools for intelligence gathering, the police in Lagos have to waste human and material resources to identify and locate a young man that can be simply and easily identified and traced through the common ID Caller App and the social media Platforms. This is terribly embarrassing.

23. The ridiculous treatment of myself and my wife with the detention in Wuye Police Station, before our eventual release, is not only appalling and scandalous but a calculated attempt to rubbish our hard-earned reputation, having used the last five years protecting and promoting the activities of security agencies in Nigeria.

24. In fact, through PRNigeria Platform alone, we have syndicated and published over 300 official Press Releases from the Police in the last two years of the current administration as part of our social responsibility to our fatherland.

25. While we have been threatened by terrorists and their sympathisers in the cause of our services, it is rather unfortunate that the police are now our tormentors.

26. My fear, currently is not about me, my family or my son who will surely confront the Police with his lawyers over the reckless allegation on his return. My fear is: what may be happening to other ordinary Nigerians who do not have people in police or security agencies to put words on their behalf.

27. Only God knows how many lives could have been lost with the kind of recklessness exhibited by the Lagos Police Team that engages in the gestapo-like operation of picking up people without providing the information on their alleged offences.

28. I am writing this letter to request the Office of the Inspector General of Police over the unnecessary harassment and unjust intimidation from Police Team from Lagos.

29. I wish to, therefore, request your office to:
a. Demand the reason and justification for the harassment of myself and especially my wife who has been traumatised since then and undergoing medication and counselling
b. Provide clear information of the alleged offences purported committed by my son
c. Direct one Inspector Babatunde (08056506863, 08081700099) to stop threatening me with phone calls insisting I must be in Lagos in the absence of my son
d. Tender unreserved apology for treating my family like a common criminal without adequate proof of the allegations.
e. Note that my ordeal contravenes a clear provision of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 which prohibits the arrest of another person in place of a suspect.
f. Note that with the unprofessional and questionable manner of the Lagos Police Team, I wish you would transfer the case to any of your Special Investigation Units or to the FCT Police Command
g. With my strict monitoring and parental guidance over my children, I should also be held liable if my son is found guilty of the alleged offence. I am not only a guardian but a Father in every sense of the word.

30. I, therefore, submit this for your prompt intervention, as the Gestapo-police team insists on my presence in Lagos this week which I will not honour in the absence of my son who is yet to return from Hajj.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Publisher PRNigeria, Economic Confidential

Copy:
Governor Ambode of Lagos State
Commissioner of Police Lagos State
Commissioner of Police Federal Capital Territory
Force Police Public Relations Officer
Divisional Police Officer, Wuye District
Executive Secretary Centre for Crisis Communication
Chief Press Secretary to Governor of Lagos State

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Dasuki-Buhari

Spymaster: A Memo to President Buhari on Sambo Dasuki
By Yushau A. Shuaib

Your Excellency, Mr. President, permit me to use this open letter as an appropriate channel to convey this message to you for the obvious reason of reliability. For fear of being misunderstood, I should state from the onset that I have been your hardened fan since the 80-90s while I was a student and contributing articles featuring the famed incorruptibility and discipline of you and your former lieutenant, the late General Tunde Idiagbon. (Link: https://yashuaib.com/1991/11/haba-governor-madaki/)

It may interest you to note that immediately after your election, I was approached by well-wishers requesting my services on communication strategies for your wife, Mrs Aisha Buhari. While I recognised the fact that such request to work with the first family is a great honour, I nevertheless politely declined for fear of conflict of interest because I had served the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) during the tenure of Sambo Dasuki which is being probed by your government.

I wish to therefore implore you to read this memo with open-mind as coming from an admirer who means well for you and the nation because of some disclosure I would make here for the record.

Immediately after I was prematurely retired from the public service for writing against a serving powerful minister during the previous administration, Sambo Dasuki invited me to serve the same government as a consultant on crisis communication and a major intermediary between the media and the critical stakeholders i.e. the military, security, intelligence and response agencies in Nigeria. The assignment was designed to counter terrorists’ propaganda and other campaigns on security consciousness which we successfully executed in the last three years. (Link: https://yashuaib.com/2014/03/sambo-dasuki-on-security-media-relations/)

In the course of my assignment not only did I relate closely with the ONSA and other security agencies, I also enjoyed interaction on valuable information about your past relationship with Sambo Dasuki. Your Excellency, you may recall my first article on his travail which I titled ‘An Encounter with the Spymaster’ in July 2015. In that article, I narrated his visit with other officers to you in Jos while you were GOC over the coup that ousted President Shehu Shagari which you later emerged as the Head of State. I also stated his denial of ever arresting you or detaining you after the Babangida coup that ousted you. In fact, few weeks after my publication, your town man, retired Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu corroborated the same story by insisting that it was him (AbdulMumini and two other officers –John Madaki and Lawan Gwadabe) and not Dasuki that arrested you (Link: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/188069-how-we-arrested-buhari-during-1985-coup-abdulmumini-aminu.html or http://bit.ly/2fK4jQv

In the same article, Dasuki whom I learnt is your in-law, narrated his brotherly supports for your candidacy for the Presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011 before he was later appointed the NSA by Goodluck Jonathan. Apart from mentioning names of people privy to those efforts in that article who are still alive, he also mentioned how he pleaded with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande on your behalf to allow you fly the joint ticket of the Presidential candidate of the then CPC and ACN in 2011. (Link: https://yashuaib.com/2015/07/sambo-dasuki-an-encounter-with-spymaster/)

Your excellency, from the foregoing, I can say that Sambo Dasuki is an honourable man who respected you and can do no harm. In fact, he confided in me when he was acting as your NSA that many people were asking him to run away because you would deal with him. He said “I can never be a fugitive after past Abacha’s attempt on my life in the 90s. I will remain in Nigeria and face any consequences.”

While serving as the consultant to ONSA and other security agencies, we created a most cohesive and organised platform for top security spokespersons under the platform of Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies (FOSSRA) to counter the narratives and propaganada machinery of the insurgents and their sympathizers. We succeeded in establishing and sustaining mutual understanding and synergy among all the agencies, especially in coherent and coordinated interface with the media. We also eliminated inter-agency rivalry and dichotomy as we also checked and controlled embarrassing information leakages that might be injurious to national security. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2014/08/fossra-foster-interagency-security-collaboration/)

It should be stated here that during the critical period of the war on terror, the western powers deliberately refused to sell required weapons and armaments to Nigeria to prosecute the war on flimsy excuses of human right abuses. When they embargoed the supply, the then government had to resort to Eastern Block for required arms and ammunition. Though the arrival of the equipment were late which necessitated the postponement of the 2015 election, the subsequent operations were successful. In fact, Your Excellency, some of the acquisitions arrived after you came into office. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2015/04/military-to-liberate-sambisa-forest-may-29-nsa/)

Dasuki also confirmed the acquisitions of Alpha jets, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, advanced artillery pieces, assorted arms and ammunition, sophisticated surveillance drones, T72 Battle Tanks and modification of F7 supersonic jet fighters. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2015/08/we-acquire-sophisticated-weapons-against-terrorism-ex-nsa-sambo-dasuki/)

Your Excellency, you may be aware that the military during Jonathan’s administration also secured the cooperation of reluctant neighboring countries to confront terrorists after funding the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF). You may also be aware about other strategies that were deployed to tackle the Boko Haram menace when Special Technical Advisers from friendly countries intelligently assisted our air powers to clear the occupied territories from the sky while the ground troops moved in to consolidate the clearance of the remnant of terrorists. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2015/03/so-called-mercenaries-are-technical-advisers/)

Your Excellency, as you may probably know, average Nigerians can be forgetful. Before the handover to you as the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2015, when Sambo Dasuki was still the NSA under the Jonathan administration, Nigerian military had successfully liberated dozens of towns and cities from terrorists in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State. Some of the liberated towns including these 24 towns: Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, Vimtim among other communities with pictorial and video evidences provided by the Defence Headquarters. In one day alone April 30, 2015, at least 234 abductees (Women and Children) were rescued by the military who had stormed sections of the Sambisa Forest. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2015/05/another-set-of-234-women-and-children-freed/)

Some of the finest and courageous military commanders who led our troops to recover those territories are still in active service and can bear witness to those great moment of the military’s accomplishments. I must commend your Excellency for assigning some of them to higher responsibility and for providing the nation with the current courageous Service Chiefs who have performed exceeding well in the mopping and clearance exercise.

You may also be aware that it was Sambo Dasuki as the NSA who introduced the Soft-Approach programme that gave birth to Presidential Initiative on North-East (PINE), which later metamorphosed into Presidential Committee on North-East (PCNI) which you recently inaugurated. In fact Dasuki also launched and implemented the National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) which your Vice President Osinbajo and current humble NSA Mohammed Monguno relaunched recently too. These are obvious facts your excellency. (Link: https://yashuaib.com/2016/09/nactest-osinbajo-and-the-revised-counter-insurgency-campaign/)

Mr. President, I raised some of these issues to let you know that there are a lot of alarming and toxic misleading information in the public domain. You may recall my alarm over the AVM Jon Ode Panel on arms procurement and advise I gave you to always conduct thorough and due diligence search on those to be appointed into any organisation, committee or panel to ensure their incorruptibility in line with the change mantra of your administration. I warned that wrong people in sensitive positions may capitalise on your sincerity to engage in proxy wars without your knowledge. I mean this sir. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2016/03/yashuaib-resigns-fossra-say-jon-ode-panel-misleading-president-buhari/)

May I appeal to Your Excellency to simply review the fact that Sambo Dasuki has been granted bails by three High Courts in Nigeria and that even the ECOWAS Court has also ordered his release yet he has remained in custody. I know you can do it because you single-handedly intervened in saving careers of some senior military officers when you refused to be misled by some reports. Surprisingly, the public are not even aware of your magnanimous gesture but some of us are, as the saved security officers remain grateful to your kindness and fatherly role. (Link: https://prnigeria.com/2016/10/ecowas-court-orders-immediate-release-dasuki/)

The obvious disobedience to court order on Dasuki’s bail is quite disturbing. Since his arrest and detention on December 1, 2015, Dasuki has observed Christmas, New Year, Islamic Festivities of Ramadan, EidKabir and Moulud in captivity. In less than a month time, he will have clocked one year in detention against the law.

With consolidation of some of the charges against Dasuki, the judiciary should also be encouraged to ensure that the Court Trial is open to the public rather than through Secret Trial. Open trial may provide factual realities of stewardship against occasional imaginary fictions of media trials.

Your Excellency, as an admirer of your discipline and incorruptibility, I pray you lead the country to the path of political stability and economic recovery. I also pray that at the end of your tenure, your aides and loyalists would have the same courage to stand by you without being hypocritical ingrates as we have seen today.

I wish you success sir. Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Blogger: www.YAShuaib.com
Founder: www.PRNigeria.com (The Press Release Platform)
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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