President Muhammadu Buhari says
he has not changed the service chiefs in order to avoid “competition within the
service.”
Buhari said this in a recorded
interview that was aired by Arise TV Monday night.
Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, chief
of defence staff; Tukur Yusufu Buratai, chief of army staff, Ibok-EteIkwe Ibas,
chief of naval staff; and Sadique Baba Abubakar, chief of air staff, have had
their tenures extended twice.
Also, Ibrahim Idris,
inspector-general of police (IGP), who was expected to retire on January 3
after completing a mandatory 35 years in service is still at his job.
He said the performance of the
service chiefs may be disappointing but he takes responsibility for not
changing them.
“My understanding of security is
that, when you have a case of emergency, you have to be careful, with tampering
with the head of services. This is again one of my personal experiences. I have
been a governor, I have been a minister, I have been a head of state, I came
back, I tried to come back to this office three times but lucky on the fourth
time,” Buhari said.
“I am measuring the options
critically, when you have a case of emergency, if you don’t wait for an
appropriate time to do it, then you create competition within the service,
there are so many ambitious people waiting, only one man can be chief of army
staff in the army, only one man can be the inspector-general of police. Don’t
forget that it was this administration that appointed all the three.”
SERVICE CHIEFS DISAPPOINTING
PERFORMANCE
“I didn’t know them on [a]
personal basis, I followed records and thought I picked the best then, of
course, their performance may be disappointing but I accept responsibility for
not changing them. My reason is based on my own experience.”
When asked specifically about the
IGP, the president said: “I don’t think I’m afraid of him. I will take action.”
Buhari also accused the
governments of Benue and Taraba of giving the killings in their states
religious and ethnic undertones.
“You talked of Zamfara and Benue
and Plateau, You haven’t mentioned Taraba. The problem which I think are you,
the press, television, radio and so on is stabilise the country and ask for
responsible reportage and leadership,” the president said.
“The number of people killed in
Taraba and Benue is not up to the number killed in Zamfara state. But then what
the leadership of Benue and Taraba was reporting – I may not be reading every
article – they were giving it religious and ethnic [undertone] which is very
unfair to Nigeria.”
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Balderdash. He should go
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