The Presidency yesterday fired back at a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, for attacking President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said it was an act of hooliganism for Lamido, who, he noted, was facing criminal prosecution, to be aspiring for the nation’s presidency.

Shehu described the series of interviews by Lamido, each one stepping up attacks on Buhari over the ongoing anti-corruption war, as a reflection of “the intellectual and moral bankruptcy” of the opposition in Nigeria.

Reacting to the latest of the interviews published on Saturday, Shehu warned that there was a grand plan by politicians to destroy national institutions such as the courts, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission “and everything good that the nation stands for.”

According to him, “It is only in Nigeria that a leader will divert money belonging to the public into his children’s account, then turns round to start pontificating on public morals, in the process subjecting the nation’s honest leadership to daily attacks based on falsehood.”

He stated: “It is even worse that such a person, facing criminal prosecution will start going round saying he wants to be president. Is this not one of the reasons why other countries are laughing at Nigeria? This is hooliganism. It is not opposition politics.”

Shehu challenged Lamido to convince Nigerians that his trenchant attacks against the government and the judiciary were not “a smokescreen to becloud the atmosphere of his criminal prosecution.”

“As a country, Nigeria settled for President Buhari not just as President but the watchman of people’s wealth. The citizens are happy with that and the whole world is applauding. African Union, the AU just named him as the Champion of the war against corruption. Opposition politicians like Governor Lamido need to come to terms with the fact that their act needs updating,” he said.