Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike on Sunday attributed the failure of the former Service Chiefs to achieve much in securing Nigeria to the fact that they were fully involved in politics.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week retired the former Service Chiefs which include Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
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They were replaced with Major-General LEO Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
Speaking on Channels Television programme ‘Sunday Politics’, Wike said when security is politicised as done by the outgone Service Chiefs, nothing could be achieved.
While commending President Buhari for listening to the calls of Nigerians by replacing the service chiefs, he admonished the new Service Chiefs to stay away from politics and focus on assisting the President in his task of securing the country if they want to make any headway.
‘Like I said, if you do the right thing, I will commend you. If you don’t do the right thing, I will criticize you. Mr President has done what every Nigerian have expected that he should have done. We are happy with what he has done but having done it, what is the next step?
‘The next step is, you that have been appointed, what is your agenda? What are your plans to make sure that security architecture is improved?
‘I have commended Mr President for listening to Nigerians. Whether anybody likes it or not, he did and we should commend him for that even though it came late’
‘Now, those that he appointed, what is expected of them? Very, very serious.
‘They must understand that the challenges are enormous and so they have a lot of work to do. They should not involve themselves in politics’.
‘Part of the problems we had with the former service chiefs was that they were involved in politics instead of concentrating on the security of the nation. They were very much involved in politics. Nobody can deny that fact. The moment you politicise security, then you are bound to have problems’ Wike concluded.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
