PRESIDENT Jonathan’s offices reacted on Thursday to unspecified reports that it recently ordered the
dismissal of top officers of the Nigeria Police, citing it as “untrue and misleading,” and that such reports were targeted attempts “to cause anxiety and disaffection amongst the top hierarchy of the Police Force.”
This was according to a statement issued by the presidency on Thursday, signed by President Jonathan’s special adviser on communication, Dr. Reuben Abati.
Citing the president’s remarks at the swearing-in of a new chair and members of the Police Service Commission on Wednesday, the statement referred observers to the transcript of the Mr. Jonathan’s address at the occasion.
“The thrust of the President’s remarks was that the new Chairman and members of the Police Service Commission should strive to effectively discharge their statutory function of enhancing discipline and efficiency in the service,” the statement read.
“The full transcript and recording of the President’s remarks at the occasion are available to all sections of the media and they clearly show that at no point in the course of his comments did the President “order” or “direct” the Police Service Commission to “sack” any police officer,” it added.
“President Jonathan was certainly not giving fresh orders or rewriting the rules when he said: “People who are promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Police and above must merit the rank. If you don’t merit the rank, you should be retired from the service”.
“As all police officers and their counterparts in the Armed Forces and security agencies know, the President’s words were fully in line with existing rules and regulations guiding career progression in the services.
“The import of President Jonathan’s comments was that the new Police Service Commission and other bodies charged with overseeing the career progression of officers and other personnel in the police and security agencies should work to achieve greater competence levels in the services by upholding extant regulations without fear or discrimination.
“The Jonathan Administration has granted access to all media organizations who wish to report on its activities and done everything possible to facilitate the performance of their duty of correctly informing the public in keeping with the spirit of democratic governance.
“In return, the Presidency expects a much higher standard of professionalism and accuracy than that being exhibited by sections of the media.
“Those guilty of deliberately distorting or twisting the President’s words to promote sectional agenda and fan the embers of discord in the polity should desist from doing so,” the statement concluded.