By ‘Dayo Showemimo
The presidency has reacted to a statement by Lagos governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola alleging that the President’s presence in Lagos was responsible for the success of the Lekki robbery in Lagos yesterday.
Responding to Fashola’s statement, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati made the Presidency’s position known in an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja.
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.’
Firing a direct salvo at the Lagos governor, Abati said: ‘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.’
