Nigeria’s Presidency Thursday said President Umaru Yar’Adua had no hand in the alleged withdrawal of police escorts attached to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
The Presidency, however, expressed sadness at “the sort of politics” it alleged media handlers of the former vice president are playing.
Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, told journalists Thursday that the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, was in a better position to set the records straight as to what transpired.
According to Adeniyi, “It is unfortunate that the name of the President would be dragged into who guards or does not guard the house of anybody, even if such a person is a former vice president.”
He noted that Vice President Atiku “still enjoys all the police orderlies he is entitled to by law.”
Adeniyi said he was aware the Nigeria Police had started implementing the recommendations of the Police Reform Committee headed by former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji M. D. Yusuf.
According to him, “that committee specifically recommended that policemen should be withdrawn from people who are not entitled to such protection. This decision was ratified by the Council of State which had in attendance former heads of state and former chief justices of the federation as well as serving governors.”
Adeniyi explained that the Federal Executive Council meeting at which a decision on those entitled to police orderlies was taken two weeks ago was chaired by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan because “that was the day the elder sister of the president was buried in Katsina and we had to travel. Even at that, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar still enjoys all the police orderlies he is entitled to by law as he does not fall within the category of those not entitled to them.
“I will want to appeal to the media handlers of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that this recourse to cheap propaganda is very unhelpful, even for the man whose cause they think they are promoting,” the presidency spokesman said.