Nahimat Adekoga
The Presidency has denied report claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved replacement of Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, as Service Chiefs.
According to a statement on Monday by the president’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Femi Adeshina, the presidency explained that the tabloid would have done a better job to confirm information at its disposal from many available military and government information channels rather than resulting to hastily publishing the misleading report.
The statement said by doing the needful, the newspaper would have avoided self-inflicted wound of publishing a one-legged story that is not completely true, and damaging its brand in the process.
The Presidency said in the statement that Gen Olonisakin is due to retire from the Army next week, having satisfied official number of years in service, stating that he is yet to be replaced.
It explained further that the chief of Naval Staff still has a short time in service and President Buhari could, therefore, not have approved his replacement yet.
The statement said present administration has repeatedly pledged commitment to transparency and accountability, and one of hallmarks of that is making information available to the media.
It however frowned at activities of some section of the media who rather speculate, than cross-check and double check information, just as it cautioned that such actions would not doubt hinder national cohesion and development.
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