Atiku kicks as service chiefs attend Buhari’s campaign launch

Pictures of service chiefs attending President Muhammadu
Buhari’s campaign rally tagged ‘Next Level’ have become a source of
worry for the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, a spokesman for
the organisation has said.

Some service chiefs including the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen.
Gabriel Olonisakin; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar
Sadiq; and Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas
seen attending the event were obtained by our report on Monday.

However, it could not be immediately ascertained if the Chief of
Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai, also attended the event which
took place in Abuja on Sunday.

In one of the photos, the Chief of Naval Staff is seen shaking
hands with the All Progressives Congress chieftain and former
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

The event was well attended by the APC Chairman, members of the
APC National Working Committee, members of Buhari’s campaign team
as well as several ministers who took to the podium to bash the
Peoples Democratic Party amid chants of ‘APC, Next Level’ from the
audience.

Speaking with newsmen on Monday, the Spokesman for the Atiku
Abubakar Campaign Organisation, Mr. Segun Sowunmi, said the
presence of the service chiefs at such a political gathering showed
that Buhari as the commander-in-chief had compromised the heads of
the military agencies.

Sowunmi called on the international community to take note of
the development as it could imply that the military had already
started working for Buhari’s re-election.

He said, “The problem with the security agencies is that they
have not fully defined who they should be loyal to. The concern is
that the commander-in-chief has some sort of relationship with them
but when they elevate that relationship to a point where they begin
to attend political events at the launch of the campaign of a
political party, everybody must be scared.

“This is because it portends a very dangerous development which
is that they have now got themselves involved in politics to the
point that they are now the cheerleaders of another political
party.

“I hope when we want to unveil our own political document in a
public forum and if we invite them, they would be reasonable enough
to attend since they now attend political events.

“We want to advise them to be removed from politics so that the
opposition can feel safe. I am quite disappointed in President
Buhari for exposing the military to such a compromise and we call
on the international community to take note.”

The Spokesman for the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Festus
Keyamo (SAN), said the event was not a political one per se but an
event to showcase the achievements of the Buhari
administration.

Keyamo said during election time there is a thin line between
politics and government, adding that there was no cause for
alarm.

He said, “It was not a campaign but the launch of a scorecard.
You cannot prevent the crowd from chanting ‘APC’ because party
members will do what they want. The event was a scorecard involving
heads of all sectors including security to showcase their
achievements.

“We were supposed to have a segment for security chiefs but the
airtime was not enough. We showcased achievements in
infrastructure, social investment, and agriculture.

“The truth of the matter is that in campaign periods, the line
is very thin because the government is APC and APC is the
government but the truth of the matter is that it is about
government performance.”

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