Nigeria, Dec. 11 -- The presidency has released the statement below as its response to a Punch newspaper editorial which strongly criticised President Muhammadu Buhari's disrespect for the rule of law.

Punch, one of Nigeria's most widely read newspapers, in an editorial published Wednesday highlighted some of the instances where the Buhari administration had violated court orders including in the treatment of an activist, Omoyele Sowore.

In the editorial titled 'Buhari's lawlessness: Our stand,' the newspaper said it would henceforth refer to the president by his last military title when he ruled Nigeria as a military dictator.

"As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our p...