Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, has said that some of the fiercest critics of his boss, President q Muhammadu Buhari, dine with him at Aso Rock in Abuja.
He disclosed this in a piece titled, ‘Buhari, FFK, And The Quality Of Mercy’.
According to Adesina, the defection of former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress last week has caused “not a small ruckus” because of his past acerbic comments against Buhari.
He said though Fani-Kayode had said “unpardonable and unprintable” things about Buhari, his family and the APC, the President displayed “mercy” by receiving the controversial ex-minister into the party at the Villa last week.
The presidential spokesman wrote, “Naturally, a lot of loyal APC members are hopping mad that FFK was readmitted into the party. And not only that, he got back at the highest level. Not at his ward in Ile-Ife, Osun State, but the triumphal entry was at the Presidential Villa, with President Buhari himself as the host.
“I understand the umbrage taken against the development by teeming APC supporters. It’s the natural thing to do. But then, having vented spleen, raised dust and almost brought down the roof, the next thing is to isolate the issues dispassionately. With the bile displayed towards President Buhari and his family over the years, how did the man find the grace to have received FFK? How was he convinced? Who did the convincing? What were the extenuating factors? How? When? Why?
“By agreeing to the readmission of FFK to APC as the leader of the party, and hosting him at the Villa, President Buhari displayed amazing capacity to forgive, to show mercy, and let bygones be bygones. How many of us can do that? Not many.”
“I have worked with the President for over six years. And I have seen amazing things in terms of accommodation and capacity to forgive. I have visited him at home many times in the evenings, only to find at dinner table with him people who had been abusing his forefathers on television earlier in the day.
“This President has a capacity to forgive, and forget. And make peace. That was what he displayed in the case of FFK. Nothing short of divine attribute, which me and you should covet and seek to approximate,” Adesina added.
