GARBA Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity has been put on the social media ‘hot seat’ following his unrelenting verbal attacks against the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Nigerians want Shehu to clarify why he suddenly believes that the PDP, together with its presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, is corrupt, after having worked for Atiku for nearly 12 years.

Shehu was the head of Atiku’s media office from 2003 until he was appointed to the Presidency in 2015 after the APC took over power. At the time, Atiku was a prominent member of the APC and, according to reports, had contributed significantly during the campaigns.

However, things have since taken a different turn, Atiku has fallen out with the APC, pulled out of the party, rejoined the PDP and has emerged the party’s presidential candidate. But contrary to the expectations of many, Shehu has opted to remain in Buhari’s camp rather than join Atiku out of the APC.

Late on Monday, Shehu took to the social media to once again disparage the PDP over the party’s threat to sue Buhari for insisting that his academic credentials were with the military authorities hence his inability to present them to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as required by law.

According to him, “it is clear to all at this time that the PDP, facing an imminent humiliating defeat wants to sow division and chaos by seeking the destruction of the institutional structures that support our young democracy”.

Shehu stated that the Buhari certificate issue has been settled by the court long ago and that the PDP was just trying to divert the attention of Nigerians from the grand corruption and atrocities that was rampant when the party was in power.

“No matter how honeyed their sweet words, don’t believe them,” Shehu tweeted, “their evil record can never be washed away. The PDP set a record of murdering opponents of government and corruption on a scale never seen anywhere before.”

This recent round of criticism prompted many to begin to ask Shehu to explain why he now label Atiku and the PDP as corrupt just because both of them have parted ways.

“Atiku was your mentor, so I ask you; When you were in his employ, was he corrupt?” queried one Ndamzi Kingsley Wali.

Another Twitter user, Eli Dangana, simply asked, “When are you decamping back to PDP and work with your boss Atiku?”

Some of the other tweets read as follows:

@GarShehu pls can you answer this simple yes or no question. You just posted like 10 post of yours defending pmb waec. Or u suddenly arent interested anymore. I can say categorically in a few years to come u will be defending pdp or another party aside apc. #partoftheproblem

— Crowns_dj (@Djflexzy) October 29, 2018

Can u please answer this sir?? This will take a single tweet

— Numero Uno (@vasselme) October 30, 2018

In an interview in 2013, Shehu narrated how the government of the United States of America cleared Atiku of all the corruption charges against him, including the case that later led to the jailing of a US Congressman, William Jefferson. He also told how former President Olusegun Obasanjo tried in vain to implicate Atiku in several corruption cases, including that of the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF).

Garba Shehu has also published a book about his works in the Atiku media office titled: “The Atiku Media: The Wars, The Victories”.