The Heads of the Nigerian Armed Forces, including the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff and Chief of Air Staff have resigned from the service of the military.
President Muhammadu Buhari said in a tweet that he accepts the resignation of the service chiefs. The President said, “I have accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs, and their retirement from service. I thank them all for their overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to Nigeria, and wish them well in their future endeavours.”
The former service chiefs are Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
The President thanked the outgoing Service Chiefs for their “overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to our dear country.” The new Service Chiefs are Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral AZ Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff. He congratulated and urged them to be loyal and dedicated in the discharge of their responsibilities.
In the past, eminent Nigerians and opinion leaders have consistently called for the sack of Nigeria’s Service Chiefs as a result of the unyielding insecurity challenges in different parts of Nigeria that have defied solutions. The National Assembly was not left out. In a motion sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume at the Senate plenary on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. The Senate passed a resolution calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to dismiss the Service Chiefs from office, including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas and Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin.
Both Chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives had in previous resolutions called on President Buhari to fire these Service Chiefs.
The Nigerian military has been in a battle with Boko Haram insurgents and terrorists, with no evidence in sight of progress being made to quell the insurgency in the North East. There has also been a significant rise in insecurity across the entire States of Nigeria’s Northern borders – Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, etc. Nigeria’s military has come under severe criticism for its failings. Most recent is the conflict between the Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the southwestern part of the country. Observers say this has broken the camel’s back.
The Army was also criticised by election observers in the 2019 general elections for interfering. In an unprecedented move, it deployed never before seen number of soldiers to provide election security. What is however puzzling to most Nigerians is why President Buhari waited for so long to act on the calls for the sack of the Service Chiefs.
Reports say, the Service Chiefs were overdue for retirement and have stayed beyond legally permitted time limits in their positions. It was unclear why the President persisted in retaining them in service for so long despite the illegality of continuing to do so.
Nigeria News Abroad spoke with a Retired Civil servant and senior citizen, Chief Ajibola Theophilus of the Nigeria Ministry of Defence on the sacking of the Services Chiefs after several calls to the President to do so. Chief Ajibola said, ‘‘ The important thing to focus on is that the President had yielded to calls of Nigerians to change the Service Chiefs. We need to bring new ideas into the system and the best way is to have new Service Chief that will look at the situation in a new light because the approach of the former service chiefs has not worked, obviuosly.’’
‘‘We can only hope that things work out. I do not believe that changing Service Chiefs alone is enough to improve the security situation in Nigeria. Nigeria is under policed. I believe that we need to give way to state policing system in Nigeria. Let any state that can afford it have its state police. Let any local government that can afford it have its Community Police and let the Nigerian Police Force work side by side with them all. I don’t believe the system we have now can combat banditry, kidnapping, Fulani herdsmen, armed robbery, cultism and so on. Nigeria is fast becoming the den of criminals and urgent steps must be taken,’’ he said.