The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji

In a reaction to the reports and criticisms that followed, the minister on Sunday, issued a statement through his special assistant, Segun Adeyemi, in which he said his words were distorted.

Speaking earlier on Saturday night at the third Kannywood Award in Abuja, Mohammed had said: ``I know we are here for entertainment and glamour, but when a matter of national interest or importance is involved, everything else takes a back seat if only for a moment.

``Earlier today, I appeared on a radio show here in Abuja at which I spoke extensively on the issues affecting our country especially the economy.

``To my surprise, my views were twisted and I was reported to have said that the economy of our country is beyond the control of the President.``

According to him, this is a gross misrepresentation of what he said.

``I could not have said that the economy is out of the control of the President or the administration that he is leading.''

The minister said that the Buhari administration decided to turn the economic disaster that it inherited to a blessing by diversifying the economy.

``I think Kannywood is one of the examples of this diversification.

``I don’t know the reason behind the gross distortion of my comment on radio, but whatever the motive is, Nigerians should disregard such distortion and continue to support our President and his administration to take our country out of the problems,`` he said.