ABUJA, Nigeria — Garba Shehu, former presidential spokesperson and media strategist, has revealed that he learned of his dismissal as Special Assistant on Media to then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar through a news bulletin aired by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in 2003.
In his newly launched memoir, According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience, Shehu recounted the abrupt and unceremonious end to his role within the presidency, linking it to the deepening rift between Atiku and then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“One day on the television news, I learnt that I had been appointed a special assistant to the vice president on media,” Shehu wrote, adding that the appointment, dated June 1, 2003, came as a surprise, but one he welcomed in good faith.
However, just six months later, he said he received a puzzling call from someone at the NTA.
“Someone from NTA called me and said, ‘We are going to announce your resignation tonight,’” Shehu recalled.
“I told them I hadn’t resigned, but they insisted the government said I had. They claimed there was a resignation letter. I said ‘okay’ without any worries.”
The announcement came two days before Christmas, shortly after Shehu returned from an assignment at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Jos.
According to Shehu, his removal was not personal but a consequence of the widening gulf between Atiku and Obasanjo, as the vice president quietly began preparing for a 2007 presidential run.
“Even though he had an excellent media team — certainly better than what the president had — the VP was aware that the structures of government posed such a peculiar operational challenge that we could not do our best for him,” Shehu wrote.
He said Atiku wanted more media flexibility and thus encouraged Shehu to function independently of the Presidential Villa.
“It’s better you operate from outside the government,” Shehu quoted Atiku as saying.
That suggestion led to the establishment of the Atiku Media Office, where Shehu took on the role of coordinator and began reporting directly to Atiku from outside formal government structures — a strategic shift that would redefine the media operation for the former vice president.
