Group Berates CDS Irabor for Disengaging 36 Senior Officers in Nigerian Military
- The recent disengagement of 36 senior officers by the Defence Headquarters continues to generate reactions nationwide
- A group has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately reverse the decision, stressing that it is not good for the nation
- The Vanguard for Peace Building and Conflict Resolution also accused CDS Irabor and the Service Chiefs of bias
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FCT, Abuja - A group, Vanguard for Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, has condemned the recent disengagement of 36 senior officers by the Defence Headquarters, DHQ.
In a statement sent to Legit.ng on Wednesday, December 15, the group stated that the directive by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor will affect the fight against terrorists and bandits in the country.
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The statement which was signed by the president of the group, Ambassador Osagie Timipre, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the decision immediately in the interest of Nigeria.
Part of the statement read:
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“We are taken aback at the ill-informed directive by General Irabor asking senior officers of course 36 to all retire from the Nigerian Armed Forces at a time insecurity is ravaging the country.
“This is a time that the military is even expected to recall retired officers to come back and assist in the fight against murderous terrorists. In whose interest it is to retire these officers in the wake of shortage of personnel to tackle insecurity?
“It is our settled opinion that the order from the DHQ is not in the best interest of the service and the country. It does not reflect the current feeling of citizens of the country.
“What is General Irabor afraid of? That he might be replaced with a more senior and experienced officer in the wake of the worrisome and deteriorating security situation in the country?
“The military hierarchy should rather take responsibility for any failure to secure the country first before suspecting sabotage from any General. It is obvious the CDS and his Service Chiefs are playing a survival game to stay in office.
“A country in dire need of peace and unity should not allow this kind of injustice in the military.
“A situation where Generals of a senior course will be ordered to retire verbally without any written secular or document as required by law in the provisions of the armed forces will breed bad blood in the military.”
Group to Buhari: Strengthen DIA to win war against insurgency, banditry
Recall that a coalition of Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) recently urged President Buhari to strengthen the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in order to win the war against insurgency and banditry in Nigeria.
A statement sent to Legit.ng jointly signed by, Dr. Aliyu Bello of Peace and Conflict Resolution Initiative and Ambassador Jude Uchenna of Alliance for Justice and Peace gave the advice to the president.
The group noted that the failure of the DIA in providing links that will lead the troops on the battlefield as well as rancour within the military hierarchy has affected the fight against insurgency and banditry.
Group blames intelligence failure for the increase in terrorists, bandits' attacks
Earlier, a coalition of 76 NGOs and civil society activists knocked the intelligence arms of the military and the Department of State Security Services for continued attacks on military formations and other infrastructure of the state by terrorists.
The activists also lamented over the kidnapping and robbery by bandits saying the attacks were not only a setback to the war against insecurity but a blatant embarrassment to the armed forces and Nigeria in general.
The group particularly made reference to the recent kidnapping of travellers in broad daylight along Abuja-Kaduna road, an attack in Borno that resulted in the killing of an army chief and three other soldiers, and several others as clear instances of intelligence failure.
Source: Legit.ng
