Former vice president of Nigeria and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has debunked the accusation by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwanu Akiolu, that he and others were responsible for his retirement from the police force in 2002.
Reacting to the Oba’s allegations published in a section of the media, the former vice president said in a statement by his media office in Abuja, yesterday that at no time did he suggest nor propose the removal of Akiolu from the police force.
The Monarch had accused Atiku and the director of the Department of State Security (DSS) of convincing former President Olusegun Obasanjo to retire him in 2002.
He claimed that the PDP perceived him as a threat to its victory in Lagos.
He had said: “Atiku, Daura and others sat down and advised President Obasanjo that if he wanted to win Lagos in 2003, I should be removed. It was written on paper.”
The statement explained that Atiku never supervised the Nigeria Police or the Police Service Commission, and therefore, couldn’t have been part of any alleged plot to force the Oba out of public service for committing no offence.
The former vice president also said that he had no power over the Police or the Police Service Commission to remove anybody for whatever reason from office without committing any offence.
Emphasising that he was not familiar with Oba Akiolu as at the time the monarch was removed from the force, the Turakin Adamawa affirmed that he holds the Oba of Lagos in the highest esteem, stressing however, that he is totally innocent of the allegations the monarch made against him.
