President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why he retained former Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase until his retirement from active service on Tuesday, June 21.

Arase was appointed by the government of Goodluck Jonathan and was retained by Buhari even after the change of government in May 2015.

The President, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina revealed the reason why Arase was retained as police boss while speaking at the public presentation of a book, “Cascade of Change: A decade of liberal thoughts”.

The book was written by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Femi Adesina, on behalf of the President, said Arase was retained for his intellect and capacity as an operation person and not because of his strategy and tactics as a police officer.

Adesina said Arase had expected that he would be sacked before the end of his tenure and was therefore surprised that a farewell dinner was organised in his honour by Buhari.

“While he (Arase) was speaking at the dinner in Abuja, he told the President that it was very strange for him to have been invited for a farewell dinner, because, what we know in Nigeria is that, you are sacked on pages of newspapers.”

Speaking on why Arase was retained till he retired, Adesina said, “He saw the quality of his mind and he saw the quality of things, he had written. You know Arase has many publications to his credit and he also saw his capacity as an operation person and he decided to keep him till his tenure expired.”

“Mr. President appreciates sound mind and intellect and that shows the goodwill he has for Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the author of the book we are launching today.”

Adebayo Emuleomo