The Presidency has described as fictive, story published in (Today) Monday’s edition of New Telegraph Newspaper that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the replacement of Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, as Service Chiefs.
The newspaper, according to a statement by Senior Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, 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, “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.”
The statement said that while Gen Olonisakin is due to retire from the Army next week, having satisfied the official number of years in service, he is yet to be replaced and that the Chief of Naval Staff has a short while more, and President Buhari could, therefore, not have approved his replacement yet.
“This administration has repeatedly pledged commitment to transparency and accountability, and one of the hallmarks of that is making information available to the media. But when some sections of the media would rather speculate, than cross-check and double check information, then it borders on deliberate mischief. That, surely, is not the way to go, for national cohesion and development,” Adesina said.
Read This: Defence minister, DHQ denies report on retirement of Service Chiefs
Recalled that both the Defence Headquarters and Minister of defence, who was erroneous credited to have despatched letters to Olonisakin and Ekwe Ibas have since refuted the report, describing them as fictitious and malicious.
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