The Presidency has declared secession agitators cannot intimidate or bully President Muhamadu Buhari to dance to their tunes.

It also foreclosed likely convocation of another National Conference to discuss differences among the Federating Units.

Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, stated this at the maiden edition of media interactive session of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professional Forum.

Shehu, who said the Federal Government has been committed to unity, declared Buhari won’t open the vaults for agitators to placate them.

The presidential spokesman was reacting to allegation the Presidency has been quiet on agitators calling for secession.

According to him: “Look, one thing with this President is that you can’t intimidate Buhari. You can’t bully him. A lot of these people who are calling for secessions are the problem of this country and I’m happy that reasonable voices are now rising.

“Is it not only yesterday we are reading Afenifere, the most credible faction of Afenifere saying we’re not for secession. The Ohanaze Ndigbo said this over and over again.

“So this thing about secession is they had used it in the past. You create secession and break up Nigeria and then you intimidate the sitting leader and then he opens the booth and he brings money to settle people.

“President Buhari will pay no one. He is not going to pay and now it is clear that having ignored all of that, reasonable opinions are coming from those states and from those regions. The Governors in the South-west, we have all heard them, they have denounced all of these things.

“So it’s a sham, Nigerians want to be one, they want to continue. Yes, there are problems and we are hoping that as people united and loving of one another, we will come together and solve our problems.”

On calls in some quarters for a National Conference to discuss Nigeria’s unity, the presidential aide said: “What can National Conference do more than a parliament?

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed no administration has done more for Nigeria than President Muhammadu Buhari’s.

It accused opposition parties of playing politics with President Buhari’s achievements.

Its national chairman Gov Mai Mala Buni stated at the maiden edition of media interactive session of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professional Forum.

Buni, who declared the session open, challenged anybody to show any other administration that has done better for Nigeria than the current one.

Represented by the Secretary, Caretaker Committee, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, the party chieftain said: “They want to downgrade the government. There has not been a government like this in the history of the nation.

“And I am not playing politics. Show me any government that has done much than President Buhari that has direct link with the masses?”

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, reeled out achievements of the Buhari-led administration.

He said the administration has done well especially in infrastructure, agriculture as well as poverty alleviation and others.

“In 2016, President Buhari launched the National Social Investment Programme, currently the largest such programme in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

“Currently, the National Social Register of poor and vulnerable Nigerians (NSR) has 32.6 million persons from more than 7 million poor and vulnerable households, identified across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities across the 36 States of the country and the FCT.

“From this number, 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households (comprising more than 8 million individuals, in 45,744 communities from 5,483 Wards of 557 LGAs in 35 states and the FCT are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which pays a bimonthly stipend of N10,000 per household.

“In January 2019, President Buhari launched Nigeria’s Micro-Pension Scheme – which allows self-employed persons and persons working in organisations with less than 3 employees to save for the provision of pension at retirement or incapacitation.

“Establishment of Survival Fund, National Youth Investment Fund, and National Special Public Works Program, and the Covid-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) to support millions of small businesses, households and young people, with federal grants, loans and stipends.”