‘Come clean with Nigerians over change of service Chiefs’, ADC charges Tinubu

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be honest with Nigerians on the real reasons behind the sudden and rather abrupt change in the leadership of the Nigerian military.

The party said this on Friday in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi sequel to change of all the nation’s Service Chiefs yesterday.

The coalition party, while acknowledging that the President, as the Commander-in-Chief, reserves the power to make such changes as he may deem fit, said that it is somewhat concerned that this change is coming in the wake of widespread rumours of an attempted coup.

The ADC reiterated its earlier view that the reactions of government to the dangerous rumour have veered between deliberate obfuscation and outright confusion in a matter that required crystal clarity.

According to statement by Abdullahi, “We note that nearly all the Service Chiefs that have been removed were appointed only 28 months ago, with the current Chief of Defence Staff himself appointed just a year ago as Chief of Army Staff.

“We also note that this kind of decision has serious and far-reaching implications for stability within the ranks and therefore could not have been taken without strong reasons.

“Our position remains therefore that the Federal Government owes Nigerians a categorical explanation about what truly happened.

“As an opposition political party, our interest remains the stability of our country and our democracy. In the light of developments in our neighbourhood of Chad and the Sahel States, we are gravely concerned.

“Without prejudice to what might have happened in recent weeks, it is obvious that the Tinubu administration is distracted.

“Insecurity continues to spread with terrorist groups staging a comeback in some parts of the country, while bandits reign supreme in other parts. But this is not the reason the government is changing the Service Chiefs.

“Instead, the administration’s attention appears fully focused on regime politics rather than securing the lives of Nigerians.

“This action of near wholesale change in the leadership of the country’s military, if anything, will only further promote rumours and conspiracy theories”, it stressed.

The ADC therefore reiterated its earlier position that the Federal Government must address the issue transparently and reassure Nigerians that “our democracy is not under threat”.