The Presidency on Friday said it was irresponsible and unintelligent for the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, to have stated that Thursday’s deadly robbery in Lekki area of Lagos occurred because President Jonathan was in the state.
Dr. Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, reacted in an interview with State House correspondents in Abuja.
DAILY POST recalls that gang of robbers stormed the First City Monument Bank , FCMB, on Admiralty Way in Lekki, Lagos State on Thursday, killing three policemen and a teenager selling fish in the area..
Reacting on Saharatvonline, Fashola indicted Jonathan, saying,“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.”
Abati in his reaction said he expected that a man of Fashola’s status should be more responsible with his statement.
He 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 whereas 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.”
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