Following the outrage that greeted the news of an officer cleaning a minister's show during an event, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps has risen to quieten Nigerians.
The officer cleaning the Minister's shoes
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, has released a statement defending the minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, whose
shoes were publicly cleaned by an SSS official in public at the NSCDC Academy in Sauka sometime in December 2015.
According to the statement which was signed by the spokesman of the NSCDC, Okeh Emmanuel, the officer who cleaned the shoes did it out of respect and was not in anyway compelled to do so by the Minister.
As the Minister of Interior, Dambazzau oversees the NSCDC, Police, Prison, and Immigration. The statement in part reads:
“... the news being peddled by some online media houses, alleging that the Honourable Minister of Interior LT. General Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) converts SSS officer to a 'shoe shiner' is baseless, fraudulent and malicious. It is a diversionary tactics of the evil ones to cast aspersion on the personality of the minister.
"The honourable minister who was on a visit to NSCDC facilities at Sauka never beckoned on any of his aides to come and clean his shoe as alleged. Rather, if the “aide” carried out such a function, it means it was done voluntarily without any iota of compulsion.
"The demonstration by the SSS personnel was a mark of respect for his principal since he was not compelled to do so. It should also be noted that a man of the calibre of the minister, who was one-time Chief of Army Staff is entitled to aides that could help in ensuring that he looks neat at all times.”