The Presidency on Friday described as irresponsible and unintelligent a statement by Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, that Thursday’s deadly robbery in Lekki area of Lagos was made possible as a result of President Goodluck Jonathan’s presence in the state.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, made the Presidency’s position known in an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja.
Three policemen and a fish seller were said to have been killed on Thursday by a gang of robbers who stormed the First City Monument Bank on Admiralty Way in Lekki, Lagos State.
The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said in the video posted online by Saharatvonline, “This afternoon (Thursday), we lost three policemen in a robbery in Lekki and it is the first of its type in a very long time.
“But it was sad to have seen all our security personnel and all our security vehicles deployed to protect one man. All the vehicles we bought for the police were stationed to receive the President in Lagos while the citizens were left vulnerable.
“Those policemen have children and tonight, their mothers would be hard put to explain to them why daddy would not be coming home.”
But Abati said the Presidency viewed the governor’s statement as “grossly and utterly irresponsible.”
He said he expected that a man of Fashola’s status should speak more responsibly.
He said it did not make any sense that the entire police formation in the state would be deployed to protect the President during his visit that saw him sounding the gong to signal closing of business at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Abati said, “The visit of the President to Lagos or any part of the country does not necessitate the depletion of the police force active in that particular state or environment.
“The President has a defined team that protects him anywhere he goes.
“And again, President Jonathan does not need the entire police force in Lagos State to protect him in a state where he is loved by the people and where as we have seen, he enjoys overwhelming support in the lead up to the 2015 presidential elections.
“We do not only consider Governor Babatunde Fashola’s statement as irresponsible, we also think that it is unintelligent because it flies in the face of facts and it just does not add up.
“We hope that Governor Fashola, in an attempt to play politics, will not continue as his party does to play politics with the lives of people.
“People died in that unfortunate incident and President Jonathan commiserate with the affected families.
“But we will find it really cheap and disgusting that the governor of a state will now see that, an occasion of bereavement affecting the number of families, as an opportunity to play very cheap and irresponsible politics.”
The Nigeria Police have also said that there is nothing improper in deploying as many policemen as possible to protect the country’s President.
Asked whether a larger percentage of policemen in a state are deployed to protect the President whenever he visits any state in the country, Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, explained that the President needed as much security as he could get.
Ojukwu said, “There is nothing wrong in adequately protecting the President but that does not mean that the police force will leave every other Nigerian unprotected. That is why we are called ‘Nigerian Police Force.’
“There is simply no truth in the opinion that all our men were drafted to protect the President.” Meanwhile, the police in Lagos have said investigation is ongoing to track down the robbers.
Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, explained that men of the force in the state are in mourning, adding that whenever there is a development in the investigation, the public would be informed.
