Read the statement below..
Our attention has been drawn to a newspaper publication of an interview granted by Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, which was published in the Daily Trust Newspaper of Sunday March 27, 2016. In the said interview, while responding to a question on whether the president would probe his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, Mallam Garba Shehu alluded to the fact that the erstwhile Office of the National Security Adviser was at the head of all the corruption which went on in Nigeria. He then went further to reportedly state the following:
"The former Chief of Defense Staff is someone whose country home came under attack. In fact his own community had been seized by Boko Haram up to three times. Then they gave money to go and buy weapons to secure your own community but you would rather build palaces in Abuja...”.
This
is a deliberately false and misleading statement by Mallam Garba Shehu
which was invidiously calculated to tarnish the unblemished professional
reputation of a distinguished professional who has spent the better
part of his life protecting and defending this country from external
aggression and securing the territory of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
It
is a fact of indubitable notoriety that the former Chief of Defense
Staff Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh (Rtd) is currently facing criminal
charges in the Federal High Court, Abuja. It is also common knowledge
that the facts alleged against the former Chief of Defense Staff to
which he has entered a “Not guilty” plea, has absolutely nothing to do
with the Office of the National Security Adviser, nor are there any
allegations of “money collected in the name of security”. That the
Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity who is or
ought to be aware of the nature of these allegations would go on public
media and regurgitate such diabolic falsehoods is a manifestation of
the basest form of professional deception and callous indignity.
In
a further and unparalleled display of crass, Mallam Garba Shehu
proceeded to falsely state that the former Chief of Defense Staff went
on to build palaces in Abuja with monies given to him to buy weapons to
save his community from the menace of Boko Haram. This blatantly false
statement is a wicked attempt to calumnize the former Chief of Defense
Staff and cause disaffection between him, members of his community and
the Nigerian public at large. First of all, there is not a single
allegation in the charges against the former Chief of Defense Staff that
he built palaces in Abuja with monies given to him to procure arms to
secure his community. Secondly, it is quiet pedestrian and irresponsible
of the Senior Special Assistant to use the scourge of the Boko Haram
terrorist activities to score cheap political points being fully aware
of the thousands of deaths and injuries caused by this terrorist group,
and the fact that no one including President Muhammadu Buhari who was
also attacked by the same group, is exempt from their terrorist and
nefarious activities
The
Senior Special Adviser may have forgotten that Section 36 of the
Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
creates the sacred and constitutional doctrine of presumption of
innocence. It is therefore a matter of grave concern that he would make
such unguarded pronouncements about a matter which is currently sub judice, and
to which the former Chief of Defense Staff has pled “Not Guilty”. This
again is a hollow attempt to unduly interfere with the functions of the
judiciary, a conduct which is repugnant to the constitutional principle
of separation of powers.
While
one may excuse the attempt by the Senior Special Assistant to garner
publicity by the proclamation of headline-grabbing utterances which do
not have a modicum of truth, it is simply unprofessional for a person of
his status to engage in these careless remarks and comments about a
matter which is presently being adjudicated before a court of competent
jurisdiction.
The
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity should rightly direct
his Media and Publicity functions to addressing the increasingly
deteriorating plight of the good people of The Federal Republic of
Nigeria whose welfare should and ought to be his primary concern, rather
than continuing in this woeful attempt to deliberately mislead the
public.
Samuel Ndubuisi
Press statement: Garba Shebu's false and deceptive uttterances
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Oleh
healthandwealth
