The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has again emphasized that only President Muhammadu Buhari has the prerogative to fire the service chiefs because he appointed them.
Adesina, who appeared on Hot Seat Special, a live programme on Ogun State Television, OGTV, on Sunday, made that statement against the backdrop of the recent clamour for the sack of the service chiefs due to rising insecurity in the country and their seeming incapacity to solve the intractable problem.
“Now because we are talking about the service chiefs. A commander-in-Chief is the one that has the prerogative to appoint service chiefs and has the prerogative to remove them. Nobody else has it. Nobody else,” he maintained.
Adesina also accused those clamouring for the removal of service chiefs of expressing a malicious propensity and wilful desire to see others fall.
“Some people like to see people dismissed, not just talking of service chiefs now. They just like to see people fall. They rejoice. ‘En Eh he is no longer there,’ as if they are the ones that would go there. Generally you see that in our society,” he said.
The President’s spokesman also said no matter what people say, the president would definitely have his way.
“Other people can have their say, like they are having now. But the Commander-in-Chief would have his way. He would have his way. Other persons can have their say. And they are having that say now. But it is the Commander-in-Chief that would have his way. It is the one that can assess them,” he averred.
Adesina said it is the president that can assess the service chiefs and likened him to a teacher who assesses his students:
“The teacher that teaches you is the one that can assess your exam script. Because he knows what he has taught you and he knows what you should deliver back to him. If the man see and feels you have done well, then you have passed. If you have not done well, you have failed. The Commander-in-Chief is the one who can assess the service chiefs.
“The President has spoken many times about their performance, though he feels they can do better. But if he decides to keep them, it is his prerogative because he is the one that appointed them,” he said.
Adesina also backed his points by citing the Scriptures: “I can quote the Scriptures. It says: ‘who are you to judges another man’s servant? It is to his master that he stands or falls.’ So it is the president that can judge the service chiefs,” he maintained.
