Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi has denied calling President-elect Bola Tinubu a drug lord.
A rumour had been circulating in some quarters to the effect that the retired General said Tinubu would not be acceptable to the military.
He purportedly said: “It is an insult to the Military to have a known drug lord as C-in-C of the Armed Forces of Nigeria”.
However, in a statement on Saturday by his spokesperson Mohammad Abdulkadri, the general said “the myopic, diabolic and despotic publication can be traced to anti-democratic forces”.
Magashi accused disgruntled elements of trying to drag his reputation and that of the nation’s “apolotical military” into disparaging Tinubu.
The minister recalled he was one of the first members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that congratulated the President-elect.
Magashi condemned the “concoction of fake news” against him at a time he is busy supervising the military in aid of civil authority to defend Nigeria’s democracy.
“The Minister’s unblemished pedigree speaks volume as a loyal member of APC alongside being a credible elderstateman in the same party with the President-elect”, the statement reads.
It added that no propaganda or blackmail targeted at Magashi and the military will deter them from dealing with any person or group whose agenda is to disrupt the May 29 inauguration.
