Presidency Never Approved Replacement Of Defence Chief - Femi Adeshina

The spokesperson for the office of the President Femi Adesina rebuffed the report that the position of Chief of Defence and Chief of Naval staff which was vacant has been filled by replacements approved by the president Muhammadu Buhari.

Though he admitted the  Chief of Defence Staff General Gabriel Olonisakin was resigning his position, he, however, described the report as not being thoroughly accurate. 

According to him, the President could not have approved any subsequent replacement since the Defence Chief is up for retirement the week after, whereas the Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas has a slightly longer tenure. so there was no basis for any alleged replacement of the Service Chiefs.

“The newspaper rather than rush to print an unsubstantiated story would have done better to confirm the information at its disposal, from many available military and government information channels. It then would have avoided the self-inflicted wound of publishing a one-legged story that is not completely true and damaging its brand in the process,” said Adeshina.

He made it clear the Buhari administration had always held transparency and accountability as its watchword and believed that the best way to achieve that was by providing the media credible information.

Mr Adeshina chided the actions of some media personnel who never bother to verify stories rather relying on presumptions which to him amounts to intentional mischief capable of misinforming the nation and fostering instability.