The President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari upon assumption of office on May 29 handing over ceremony day will be clamping down on top officials of the Nigerian military.
The Cable in an exclusive report said a source revealed that one of the major priorities of the president-elect is a major shake-up in the military hierarchy.
The President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari
A source, who is aware of the alleged plan said, there will be a mass retirement of senior officers who are believed to have corruptly enriched themselves or who abandoned professionalism for politics
while serving our fatherland.
It was gathered that a small group of persons have been saddled with the responsibility of working out the modalities for the shake-up as well as look for potential replacements for the officers that would be affected.
He said those expected to be affected by the mop up comprised officers who allegedly mismanaged funds meant for military operations, those who assisted crude oil thieves in successfully executing their illicit business as well as those who engaged in political activities in breach of their professional duties.
“The military has been politicised and bastardised in the last few years. Corruption has reached unprecedented levels with the oil theft in the Niger Delta and haphazard anti-terror war. Nobody can say sincerely that the leadership of the military has lived up to expectations. We need a professional military. We cannot be relying on neighbouring countries to be bailing us out of our internal issues. Buhari will transform the military to an institution of pride for all Nigerians again,” the source said
However, it could not be confirmed the extent the planned shake-up would go despite the anticipated change of service chiefs and division commanders.
The source went further to hint that the main reason for the planned purging is to rid the military of greedy and unprofessional officers.
He said the military in recent times has been under close watch following the ill manner it initially handled the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country. The source also added that military inability to halt crude oil theft as well as corruption in the top hierarchy was also a propelling factor for the changes that would be made in the country’s military institution.
He listed some of the allegations that propelled the planned changes to include reports of diverted funds for military operation to personal use, adding that instead of N30, 000 monthly allowances for troops, they were receiving N15, 000 each without any valid explanation on what happened to the balance.
The source said the troops were allegedly given only three sachets of “pure water” per day in the desert heat and lacked sleeping kits. He said the troops food supplies for the day were allegedly brought in the morning, a situation that saw them eating cold lunch and sour dinner.
In a Daily Trust publication of last year, it was reported that army top officers shared part of a land meant for barracks in the Asokoro District of Abuja, a move that further revealed the rot in the system.
The media house said the 439 beneficiaries of the land comprised spouses, relations, friends, associates and companies owned by senior military officers. It even listed some of them to include Kenneth Minimah, a lieutenant general and chief of army staff, as well as his predecessor Azubuike Ihejirika, a retired general.
The newspaper said they were both allocated 2035.41sqm and 3909.35sqm of land respectively
Buhari, who is a retired major-general, had commanded all the divisions in the military before emerging the head of state in 1983 military coup. He was removed from office in August 1985 by his chief of army staff, Ibrahim Babangida, who is now a retired general.
Meanwhile, so many Nigerians would have seen these planned changes in the army coming. It was earlier reported that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his congratulatory letter to Buhari after the March 28 presidential election, pleaded with the president-elect to reform the Nigerian military.
Obasanjo was quoted to have said: “so much harm [had been] done to many national institutions including the military, which proudly nurtured you and me.”
It is also worth mentioning that Obasanjo, on assuming office in 1999, sent all all officers who had held political appointments on compulsory retirement.
The development, however, brought sanity to the system and completely averted any form of military coup after series of military interventions in Nigeria’s political history.
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