Buhari breaking the law by retaining service chiefs: Senator Shekarau

President Muhammadu Buhari is flouting the rule of law by retaining service chiefs whose tenure have expired.

The above assertion is coming from Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, a former education minister, while appearing on Channels Television this morning.

There have been calls for the sack of service chiefs most of who have outlived their tenures but Mr Buhari continues to pay deaf ears to the demand which the Nigerian Senate has also made thrice.

Demands for their sack resurfaced after Boko Haram terrorists tied and beheaded over 40 rice farmers in Borno State last weekend.

“The President is breaking the law, the law says if you are 60 you must go, it is automatic,” Mr Shekarau, a former Kano State governor said today.

“If you are 35-years in service, you must go. In fact, they are not staff of Mr. President, they are the staff of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is a rule,” the lawmaker added.

The presidency does not share the same stance with those demanding the sack of service chiefs. Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had earlier in the week said his principal could retain heads of the security agencies and will only fire them at will.

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Mr Shekarau at the Sunrise Daily programme supported power shift to the southern part of the country.

“The Constitution of Nigeria or the constitution of any of the political parties didn’t say if I am from the North, my running mate must be from the South. It is not written but if today, I am a presidential candidate from Kano and I tell you my running mate is from Bauchi, you will say something is wrong with me,” he said.

“The presidency has just been from the North for eight years. Common sense tells us that we should look at the other side, to the Southern part of Nigeria. We should recognise the North and the South, this is elementary geography and history.

“Perception is what you have to carry along. If you continue to dominate on one particular side, the perception from the other side is, ‘What about me?” he added.