By Olajide Meseko
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, faulted the procedure adopted for the release of the report of the panel, stating that the issuance of a White Paper was the standard method.
Irabor said he could not, at the moment, comment on the content of the document, because he had not seen the official report and could not confirm the authenticity of the leaked one.
The CDS stated this during a courtesy visit to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, in Benin City on Tuesday.
Responding to a question, he said, “I am sure those of you in the media must have seen a report that was released through, in my view, a wrong channel, that is making the rounds in the social media. Whether it is a true report, I can’t tell.
“But I’d like to indicate that the normal procedure is to have such a report submitted to the convening authority. Then, there will be a White Paper that will be presented, based on which one can make informed comments.”
Irabor, however, maintained the Nigerian military was professional and remained committed to its constitutional mandate.
He added, “So, we will not at this point think that Nigerians should make disparaging remarks regarding the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the sense that we are professional. If there are issues, of course, we will address them within the ambit of the provisions of the law.
“It will not be right to disparage the men and women, who have worked so hard to ensure that the territorial integrity of this nation is kept intact.”
