The Nigerian Army on Sunday denied allegations that those
affected by the recent retirement exercise it embarked upon were deliberately
pooled from a section of the country to further advance a ‘northern agenda’,
describing the reports as “unfair and unethical.”
The Army had come under fierce criticism following claims
that senior army officers were compelled to retire because they were from the
south of Nigeria and loyal to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The allegations, which came overwhelmingly from commentators
in the southern part of the country, said President Muhammadu Buhari approved
the exercise in order to purge southerners from the top hierarchy of the
military while replacing them with northerners.
But in a statement issued late Sunday by its acting director
of public relations, Sani Usman, the Nigerian Army pushed back against the
attacks, saying the exercise was carried out in strict compliance with the
country’s extant laws.
“The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to
speculations and rumours regarding the number and names of the senior Army
officers affected in the recent retirement exercise.
“This is worrisome as some individuals and media houses went
to the ridiculous extent of publishing outrageous figures and names of serving
officers as being retired. This is unethical and unfair.
“We are quite aware that some mischievous elements are
trying to whip up sentiments. This is quite unfortunate because all the
affected officers were retired based on Service exigencies and in line with the
Armed Forces Act, CAP A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004,” the Army
said.
The statement did not specify the section of that law the
Army relied on to compulsorily retire the officers.
Mr. Sani, a colonel, also gave a breakdown of the affected
officers by ranks.
“We wish to state that only 38 senior officers were affected
by the retirement exercise.
“For the avoidance of doubt the following is the statistics
of the officers retired compulsorily; 9 Major Generals, 10 Brigadier Generals,
7 Colonels, 11 Lieutenant Colonels and a Major.”
When asked to provide a state-by-state breakdown of the
affected officers, Mr. Sani told PREMIUM TIMES it was not in the interest of
the country to do so, saying the Nigerian Army does not thrive on unnecessary
sentiments.
“The Army does not thrive on that. These people were retired
strictly in accordance with the dictates of the Armed Forces Act and not based
on ethnic or tribal consideration. The context of the law is what the people
should look at,” Mr. Sani said.
The Army had on June 10 announced the retirement of some of
the officers for being allegedly partisan during the 2015 General Elections.
“Similarly, the investigation by the Presidential Committee
investigating Defence Contracts revealed a lot,” the statement said. “Some
officers have already been arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC). People should therefore not read this out of context.
“The military must remain apolitical and professional at all times.”
No comments:
Post a Comment