President Muhammadu Buhari has directed an investigation into the incident of gunshots fired around the State House last Thursday.
The Presidency announced this in a statement on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, saying the incident happened outside the president’s main residence and did not put his life in danger.
“The Presidency wishes to acknowledge concerns expressed by several members of the public regarding the recent incident among the occupants of the State House which escalation led to the arrest of some staff by the police,” the statement read.
“This is to assure all and everyone that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, is not, and was not at anytime in any form of danger arising, either from deadly infections or the reported incident by security personnel which is currently under investigation.
“This particular incident happened outside the main residence of the President.
“Armed guards and other security personnel assigned to the State House receive the necessary training of especially weapons handling and where they come short, their relevant agencies have their rules and regulations to immediately address them.
“Having authorised the proper investigation to be carried out into this unfortunate incident by the Police, the President has acted in compliance with the rule of law.”
The Presidency also knocked critics who have been using the ‘minor occurrence’ to “justify attacks on the government and the person of President Muhammadu Buhari”.
Shots were fire at Aso Villa following squabbling between First Lady Aisha Buhari’s aides and top aides of the president.
Mrs Buhari’s aides, including her aide-de-camp, Usman Shugaba, got arrested after forcibly removing a top presidential aide, Yusuf Sabiu aka Tunde, from Aso Villa.
Mr Sabiu was said to have refused to self-isolate after recently returning from another state.
Sabiu then got the president’s Chief Security Officer, Idris Kassim, to arrest the first lady’s aides.
The first lady on Friday called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, to immediately release her aides who are in detention.
