Removal of Service Chiefs not due to coup plot rumour – Presidency insists

The Presidency has insisted that the removal of Service Chiefs and their immediate replacement was not due to coup rumour as was widely believed in certain quarters after October 19 report in Sahara Reporters.

Sahara Reporters in the report alleged a planned military takeover which it said, 16 military officers have been arrested and detained in connection with the plot to dethrone President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

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Both military authorities and the presidency have since debunked the report, but Friday’s abrupt removal of Service Chiefs by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, again raised suspicion in the public domain that the speculation might have been true.

Reacting, Mr Tope Ajayi, the Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity on Saturday maintained that Tinubu acted within the ambit of his powers, noting that hiring and firing was a normal routine with any administration and not just President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

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Ajayi said: “This is not a reaction to any rumour of coups. He is exercising his powers. The service chiefs have done two years”, insisting that the change was meant to bring on board “new direction, vision, vigour and energy” into the Armed Forces.

“We are fighting security issues, Boko Haram in the North-East, banditry in the North-West, IPOB and ESN in the South-East, kidnapping in the South-West, and other crises in the North-Central,” he stated.

The presidential aide further noted that security operations had dominated national spending, leaving other critical sectors starved.

“In the last 15 years, look at our national budget, security taking the largest chunk. The President wants to deal with this matter once and for all, so that the money going into defence expenditure will be better deployed to fund critical infrastructure like power, roads, broadband, education, and healthcare,” Ajayi said.

Ajayi stressed that the President’s decision was lawful and consistent with constitutional provisions.

“Every appointee of government, whether you are minister, head of agency, or service chief, serves at the pleasure of the President. Nobody has a secure tenure. The only two people in the Federal Government who have a guarantee of tenure are the President and the Vice President,” he explained.

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