Service Chiefs Sack: Buhari Acted In A Hurry – LP

Buhari-Service ChiefsThe Labour Party has reacted to the sack of service chiefs and the National Security Adviser on Monday, saying President Muhammadu Buhari acted in a hurry.

The president had relieved all the service chiefs and NSA he inherited from the former administration of their appointments and named their replacements yesterday.

The new appointees are Maj.-Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin (Chief of Defense Staff), Maj.-Gen. T.Y Buratai (Chief of Army Staff), Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (Chief of Naval Staff) Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar (Chief of Air Staff), Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku Morgan (Chief of Defense Intelligence) and Rtd. Maj.-Gen. Babagaba Monguno (NSA).

But the National Chairman of LP, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said, “It is my candid opinion that Mr. President should have exercised a little restraint in sacking the service chiefs; he should not have taken that action in a hurry. He should have considered the totality of what is on ground. But the fact of the matter is that his action may have also been informed by the security report he had. We do not know what is available to him, which made him take that action hastily the way he did it.

“But whatever the information in possession of the President, it is our candid opinion that the President should have waited for some time, to still try the service chiefs before they were bundled out of office. Buhari should have waited because he seems to be acting on the basis of trial and error. Probably, they must have advised him regarding the removal of checkpoints.

“Buhari made pronouncements and removed the checkpoints; no sooner had he removed the checkpoints, then insecurity escalated and Boko Haram started unleashing terror. The government had to eat its word and returned the checkpoints. It is not good enough for a government that has been advocating change”.