Presidency says service chiefs ‘mistakenly’ attended Buhari’s campaign launch

The Presidency has tried to explain why the nation’s service chiefs showed up at a political event meant to kick start campaigns for President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection bid on Sunday, blaming ‘mistaken assumptions’ on the part of the service chiefs.

President Buhari had on Sunday launched his 2019 reelection campaign tagged Next Level 2019, with the presentation of his achievements in the three and half years in office.

Surprisingly, the nation’s military chiefs showed up at the event but reportedly left early.

Read also: N30,000 MINIMUM WAGE: Governors keep mum as meeting with Buhari ends in deadlock

Nigerians from all walks of life condemned what they see as the politicization of the security agencies after the pictures of the service chiefs at the event went viral on social media.

However, in a statement on Monday evening, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said: “Punch should have asked what brought the Service Chiefs to the “Next Level 2019” event at the State House, only to leave before it got underway”.

According to Shehu, the military chiefs were “mistaken in their assumption that this was a non-political event, to showcase the achievements of the administration, the success of which they are a part.”

Hr added further that hardly were they seated “did the Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur Dan AlI (Rtd) ask them to leave as this was a political gathering.”

He further revealed that the military chiefs “quickly left, even before the arrival of the President and for the event to get under way. The fuss over this in therefore absolutely unnecessary.”

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